Curtis Botanical – Plate 8101 – Dotted Passion Flower

Original antique black-and-white print from Curtis's Botanical Magazine — Plate 8101. A South American passion flower with delicately spotted (punctata) petals and the characteristic passion flower structure laden with Christian missionary symbolism — the ten petals as apostles, the corona as the crown of thorns, the three stigmas as the nails of the crucifixion. Passion vines in the Passiflora genus grow wild across the entire eastern and southern United States, including Illinois, where the native maypop (P. Official flower: Tennessee State Wildflower (passion flower family). Passion vines grow wild in Illinois, TN, VA, NC, TX, FL. Uncolored plate. Condition consistent with age of volume. Each print is a unique piece of botanical history, printed on paper aged over a century. This plate originated with the Royal Horticultural Society and passed through Wheldon & Wesley, one of the great natural history dealers of the 20th century. We came into the archive by accident and have spent the time since trying to share it as widely as we can.