Click photo for image source and more beautiful flowers.Who knew that in the fifties and sixties, when I was growing up in Henry County, that we called the Tennessee Wild Flower by its common name, the "maypop"? In other places, it is called wild apricot or the ocoee and is actually a species of Passion Flower known by the scientific name - Passiflora incarnata. Submitted by Jean Owens.
With all its beauty and brilliant coloration, it may know be immediately apparent that the passion in Passion Flower has nothing to do with emotion. Instead, it was named after early Christian missionaries to South America recognized in the unusual flower the symbols of the Crucifixion: three crosses, the crown of thorns, nails and cords. (www.state.tn.us/sos/symbols/symbols.htm)
ReplyDeleteWe always called them "apricots". The green fruit (about the size of an egg) was good for boys to throw at each other. When the fruit ripened, it turned yellow and got softer. At that point, we would tear it open and eat the sweet pulp around the seeds and spit out the seeds.
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