PASSION-FLOWERS abound on the great Western Continent and the isles thereof. Though not unknown as wildings in the far East, their proper home is South America, and their head-quarters are in the plant-producing valleys of Brazil. To the generous land which has so greatly enriched our gardens with orchids, palms, begonias, and amaryllids, we are indebted for the finest species of passifloras, which, with other glorious twining plants, riot in the humid woods and festoon the lower acclivities of the mountains. From Brazil we derive the plant before us, and its near kindred--the white, the actinia-like, the hand-shaped, the racemed, and the flesh-coloured passion-flowers; while other regions of the great continent have given us the scarlet, crimson, yellow, purple, and lime-tree-leaved species. The most noted of all, the square-stalked Passi-flora quadrangularis, which is often grown for its edible fruit, is a native of the productive island of Jamaica.

The first passion-flower introduced to this country was P.incarnata, a native of Virginia, figured by John Parkinson in his immortal work, the "Paradisus Terrestris," wherein he describes it as "the Virginian climer," or "Jesuites Maracoc." Parkinson's figure is a fanciful travesty of the fact, and comes near to the mystical figure in Hone's "Every-Day Book."

The blue passion-flower, the subject of the present figure, was introduced about the middle of the seventeenth century, but the first distinct record we have of it represents it as cultivated by the Duchess of Beaufort in 1699. It is the most useful species known, for the sufficient reason that, while it is extremely beautiful, it is quite hardy in this country, and ripens its fruit in abundance in the suburbs of London. The fruit is as ornamental as the flower, being of the colour and size and nearly the form of an apricot; so that, when in autumn it appears in plenty, the beautiful green herbage of the plant seems studded with ripe oranges or eggs of a brilliant apricot colour. The fruit is edible, but is not often eaten, as the addition of wine and sugar is needed to render it agreeable to the palate; and then the question of its wholesomeness remains to be decided.

The first passion-flower came to Linnaeus as the "Flos Passionis," the flower of the passion, and this name he cleverly latinised into Passiflora as the name of the genus. But why is this the flower of the passion?--The conquerors of South America were cruel and rapacious, but they were, according to the notions of their time, profoundly pious in thought and deed. They readily saw in this flower the emblems of the story of the Redemption. The leaf of the plant represents the spear with which the Saviour was pierced; the threads that form the corona represent the scourge; the five stamens represent the crown of thorns; the column is the staff to which the scourge was attached; the three clavate stigmas that rise above the flower are the nails that are the nails that were used in the crucifixion; the outer rays of the flower--sepals five, petals five--ten in number, represent the apostles--and ten will suffice, since nature affords no more, and the two that may be counted as missing are Peter who denied and Judas who betrayed the Master. By another rendering of the mystic symbol, the corona becomes the cloud of witnesses; the circles become rays of glory; the five stamens are the five sacraments of the Romish Church or the five points of Protestant doctrine; while the three stigmas that surmount and crown the flower are the three Persons of the Adorable Godhead.

To cultivate this fine plant is a very simple business, provided we can begin with a rich, mellow, well-drained soil and a warm wall of sufficient breadth for its full development. The rest is easy, for it consists merely in regularly training in the growth by means of nails and shreds, or by tying to a trellis, and occasionally pruning away any shoots that appear out of place, or that tend to crowd one another. The less pruning the better, generally speaking; therefore the cultivator need not often think of this matter. But in the event of any accident that disfigures a fine plant, it is good practice to cut the whole of it down to the ground line, and wait for a new growth to clothe the wall, for this will come quickly, whereas it may require years to fill up a gap caused by severe frost or mechanical injury.

It is a matter of some interest to students of plants to know that this blue passion-flower was selected by William Curtis for one of his earliest subjects in the Botanical Magazine, the figure being No. 28 in that vast series, numbering now some seven thousand figures. And Curtis's portrait of the plant, published in 1788, is as good as any extant; and to this day the colouring is as true and fresh as if it had been finished but yesterday.

The bards have taken but little notice of this interesting and, as one might suppose, attractive subject. But Bernard Barton, in his "Invitation to Flowers," was not unmindful of its claim to honours in verse, and thus he brings it before us:--

"Vain were the hope to rival bards, whose lyres,

On such a theme, have left me nought to sing;

And one more plant my humbler Muse inspires,

Round which my parting thoughts would fondly cling;

Which, consecrate to Salem's peaceful King,

Though fair as any gracing Beauty's bower,

Is link'd to Sorrow like a holy thing,

And takes its name from Suff'ring's fiercest hour--