Passion in the 'Hood

(Passion Flowers, that is)
Until recently, there were dozens of beautifully blooming Passion Flowers hiding behind a black temporary fence at Arroyo Seco & Woodrow.

Since then, the first in a set of twin McMansions has been built there, and the vines have been mowed down. But while they were there, we had some beautiful flowers. to enjoy. Meanwhile, there are more Passion Flowers blooming at the southeast corner of Cullen and Woodrow.

But don't bug the bees!

The story of this pedantic bloom, courtesy of Wikipedia: The "Passion" in "passion flower" does not refer to sex or love, but to the passion of Jesus Christ. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries adopted the unique physical structures of this plant, particularly the numbers of its various flower parts, as symbols of the last days of Jesus Christ and especially the Crucifixion:
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 denier 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.