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Passiflora Caerulea The Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea), also known as the Common Passion Flower, is a vine native to southern Brazil and Argentina. It is capable of growing to 15-20 m height where supporting trees are available. The leaves are alternate, palmately five-lobed like a spread hand (sometimes 3 or 7 lobes), 10-18 cm long and wide. The base of each leaf has a flagellate twining tendril 5-10 cm long, which twines round supporting vegetation to hold the plant up. The flower is complex, about 10 cm diameter, with the five sepals and petals similar in appearance, whitish in colour, surmounted by a corona of blue or violet filaments, then five greenish-yellow stamens and three purple stigmas. The fruit is an oval orange-yellow berry 6 cm long by 4 cm diameter, containing numerous seeds; it is eaten and the seeds spread by mammals and birds. Cultivation and uses It is cultivated worldwide. It is popular with gardeners because of its intricate, scented flowers that have an almost plastic-looking appearance. The unusual shape of the flowers has led to the plant being associated in Christian symbolism with the passion of Jesus; the three stigmas representing the three nails used to nail Jesus to the cross, the five anthers represent the five wounds, the corona represents the crown of thorns, and the ten 'petals' (actually five petals and five sepals) the ten apostles; the leaves also represent the hands of those who persecuted him, and the tendrils the whips of those who beat him. The fruit is either eaten fresh or used in drinks. A tea can be made of the flower and is said to alleviate stress and anxiety.
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