Saturday, May 16, 2009

Why love-in-a-mist?


The Love-in-a-mist (Passiflora foetida) is a vine that originates from tropical America and now has spread to the tropics. It is also known as the stinking passion flower and also ill-odoured passionflower because its leaves have an unpleasant odor when crushed. The Love-in-a-mist is an invader on disturbed sites which explains why I saw this on our reclaimed land.

But my question is... why is it called Love-in-a-mist??? Any takers? Pls leave some comments :-)

3 comments:

  1. Could it be because the fruit is enclosed a 'nest' of frilly bracts? That's the only thing I could think of.

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  2. God, alone, has the answer to this mystery. One day you will know the answer! It's nice to have mystery, don't you think?

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  3. Hi April, I do agree there's so many mysteries in nature that probably we will never know in our lifetime.

    My guess of why it is called love in a mist is that it could be a love at first sight on this flower because it is so pretty. But its unpleasant odour will make the love of this plant to be just a mist, something transient. Haha!

    Thanks Ria for your input too. I don't have the answer too.

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