Passion Flower. Spinalonga, Crete, Greece.

I’m still processing the Crete photos at the moment.  Including this photo of a passion flower which I photographed on the Island of Spinalonga, the former lepper colony.

The flower is called a passion flower because it is named after the passion (or crusifixion) of Jesus.  The website http://www.passionflower.org/ describes the history as:

“Legend has it that in 1620 a Jesuit Priest came across the plant we now know as passion flower. Enthralled with its beauty, that night he had a vision likening its floral parts to the elements of the Crucifixion or Passion of Christ. The five petals and five sepals became the ten apostles (omitting Peter and Judas). The three pistils became the nails of the cross; the purple corona (or filaments) was the crown of thorns, and the stemmed ovary was the Lord’s goblet.”

Not bad, eh, a little bit of floral history and a little bit of church history thrown in too!