# Identify this flower please **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2008, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165 "2008-12-01T10:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165/1 "2008-12-01T10:52:16Z")
Can anyone identify[this flower](http://www.thewalkerweb.co.uk/_wp_generated/wp528118aa_0f.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165/2 "2008-12-01T10:54:54Z")
Passionfruit. Well, it’s the flower of the fruit in actuality. I wouldn’t be picking it for a vase-specimen myself! ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165/3 "2008-12-01T16:24:50Z")
It is most likekly _Passiflora caerula_ if the leaves have five lobes. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165/4 "2008-12-01T17:49:48Z")
that plant/flower has benefiicial herbal properties, makes great fruity tea, I like it better than Sleepytime Tea for inducing drowsiness at bedtime [http://www.holistic-online.com/herbal-med/\_Herbs/h277.htm](http://www.holistic-online.com/herbal-med/_Herbs/h277.htm) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165/5 "2008-12-01T18:51:37Z")
Yay, passionflower! Some of its cousins are downright alien looking: [Woah…like, trippy, man!](http://www.ranger146.com/N_Leighton_Drive/pics/Passiflora_incarnata.jpg) The name comes from The Passion, as in, the story of Jesus. From wikipedia: > [@](#): > > ``` > * The pointed tips of the leaves were taken to represent the Holy Lance. > * The tendrils represent the whips used in the Flagellation of Christ. > * The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles (less St. Peter the denyer and Judas Iscariot the betrayer). > * The flower's radial filaments, which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower, represent the Crown of Thorns. > * The chalice-shaped ovary with its receptacle represents a hammer or the Holy Grail > * The 3 stigmata represent the 3 nails and the 5 anthers below them the 5 wounds (four by the nails and one by the lance). > * The blue and white colors of many species' flowers represent Heaven and Purity. > > ``` Early studies have shown passionflower (the whole plant, not just the flower) to be as effective as oxazepam for generalized anxiety disorder or anxiety secondary to depression, but with less side effects than oxazepam. It’s also a very gentle MAOI inhibitor, but apparently without the common dietary and drug interactions that MAOI’s usually face. Awesome for depression, insomnia and anxiety. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it calms Heart Yang, fortifies Heart Yin and calms the Shen, as well as treating Liver Yang rising…meaning it chills you out and makes you a calmer and more functional person. I just put my angsty insomniac teenager on it, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165/6 "2008-12-01T19:12:52Z")
Be aware, it can be pretty invasive and take over your yard. Does best when left to ramble on a fence or something. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165/7 "2008-12-01T19:40:31Z")
Furthermore, it makes a great cocktail when mixed with sugar and Brazilian cane liquor. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165/8 "2008-12-01T19:57:02Z")
I think some people may be confused - passionflower does not make passionfruits. It makes maypops. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165/9 "2008-12-01T20:18:45Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I think some people may be confused - passionflower does not make passionfruits. It makes maypops. Only in Dixie. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165/10 "2008-12-01T20:35:42Z")
Well, you wouldn’t make a cocktail out of what the native ones in my yard produce. (Mostly you make more passionflowers. A LOT more.) ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower-please/475165/11 "2008-12-02T03:11:18Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Yay, passionflower! Some of its cousins are downright alien looking: Thanks for the ID folks. And I’ll check out those cousins too. Background on the OP: There’s this novel by Michael Ende (of the Neverending Story) called Momo that involves time thieves and a flower called an hour lily that’s a symbol of time. I saw this picture of this flower and thought it looked kind of like a clock and reminded me of the novel. I figured if I knew what it was called I could find more pictures of similar flowers.