Posts tagged ‘health’

Passionate for Passiflora

As mentioned in the post A Butterfly’s Kingdom, flowering Passion Flower vines (passiflora), are beautiful beyond compare. Otherworldly and almost alien-like, really. Spanish explorers discovered the plant in 1569, in Peru. Believing the flowers symbolized Christ’s passion, the conquistadors took it to indicate his approval for their continued “exploration.”

Butterfly World’s conservation efforts include the establishment of The Passiflora Society International, which was established at the site to encourage research on passion flowers, the source of food for many butterflies. Luckily, they grow easily in our area. And I’ll be replanting one soon — my last climbing passion flower vine never took, curiously. I’d like to blame it on bad energy at the time (not bad placement or other planting faults) and try, try again to attract more butterflies to my little garden.

I knew passiflora tea was good for you, but I just learned HOW good — there are numerous health benefits associated with the plant. It’s been used for more than two centuries by Native Americans as a sedative and relaxant, and traditional medicine practitioners widely acknowledge its help in alleviating pain and lowering blood pressure, among other things — per WebMD even, it can be used for seizures, withdrawal symptoms, asthma, fibromyalgia, burns, swelling, muscle spasms, and more…. It was even approved as an over-the-counter sedative and sleep aid in the U.S., only taken off the market in the ’70s when its effectiveness hadn’t been proven… Just like so many herbal remedies. I think I’ll be buying some passiflora tea.

Yet another example of the many gentle and beautiful ways in which Nature provides.

Passiflora “Lavender Lady”

Passiflora “Lavender Lady”

Passiflora “Inspiration”