WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Gardeners are certainly passionate about these jaw-dropping flowers, but the name is derived from a very different sort of passion: the llagas—flower of the five wounds—allegedly as a way to teach indigenous tribes the story of Jesus. The three prominent stigmas found atop every passionflower were said to represent the three nails used in the crucifixion; the five sepals below corresponded to the five sacred wounds; and the frilly radial filaments symbolized the crown of thorns. The Spanish name was eventually anglicized to passionflower.
