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It is claimed that this flower grows only in the Holy week on social media.

Blood of Jesus on the Cross

For example:

  • Facebook

    This beautiful flower grows in New Zealand and is called the "Blood of Jesus on the Cross".

    This flower grows only in the Holy Week. You can see the Cross in the centre of the flower.

  • Zephyrrenwarin blog

Is this a valid claim ?

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Arun Xavier
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  • Please keep comments on the topic of improving or clarifying the question. – Oddthinking Apr 12 '17 at 15:49
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    Snopes' analysis on it: http://www.snopes.com/does-the-blood-of-jesus-flower-only-bloom-during-holy-week/. This appears to be a *very* new rumor. – jpmc26 Apr 12 '17 at 16:27
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    Lot's of flowers bloom in a narrow time frame. It doesn't seem that remarkable of a claim. As the answers show, they got the time frame wrong, but still not that interesting or spectacular. –  Apr 12 '17 at 22:01
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    @fredsbend: A plant that knew about the lunar calendar with sufficient precision to bloom only during Holy Week would be pretty impressive, if you ask me. – Flimzy Apr 12 '17 at 22:14
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    @Flimzy Well, I guess "holy week" does change annually. I didn't think of that, but for such a claim, stretching the time frame by a week or two is not that unusual. –  Apr 12 '17 at 22:21
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    A plant syncing to a full moon isn't really so [far fetched](http://earthsky.org/earth/plants-pollination-synchronized-with-full-moon). –  Apr 12 '17 at 22:48
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    @fredsbend ["Both calendars (Gregorian and Julian) calculate Easter as falling on dates between March 22 and April 25."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_for_Easter) – BCdotWEB Apr 13 '17 at 09:17
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    I live in Australia, and that plant (or something very similar to it) is grown here for ornamental purposes. Blooms across a fairly wide range of dates, generally during the warmer and wetter months. – aroth Apr 14 '17 at 09:39
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    @notstoreboughtdirt a plant syncing to a full moon is plausible. A plant syncing to the Gregorian week cycle is less so. – John Dvorak Apr 14 '17 at 09:54
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    Maybe the claim "this flower grows only in the Holy week on social media" has some truth to it :) – Hagen von Eitzen Apr 14 '17 at 10:54
  • do you mean the time of year or asking whether a plant has a relationship of no coincidence to a story/ fairy tale in a religion? – JonathanC Apr 15 '17 at 13:30
  • As an orthodox Catholic Christian, I don't think the flower blooming at a liturgically important period fo the year is evidence for God, especially not by itself. But it's certainly a beautiful phenomenon! As such, it is as significant as any other curiosity. "God made everything and delights in delighting us. Look! He made a flower in the shape of a cross that blooms on His birthday. Would it remind me of His suffering on the Cross for Love of me." – Andres Riofrio Apr 19 '17 at 19:04

2 Answers2

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No, that is a New Zealand pohutukawa (Metrosideros excels) and it blooms for Christmas, not Easter.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrosideros_excelsa

http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-plants/pohutukawa/

DavePhD
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    But what if it's in the other hemisphere...and if Pope Gregory didn't mess with the calendar... – Nick T Apr 12 '17 at 15:36
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    @NickT it just blooms then in New Zealand because it is the beginning of summer there, nothing supernatural. – DavePhD Apr 12 '17 at 15:49
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    @NickT remnants of the Orthodox church still follow the Julian calendar. Their Christmas this year (2017) was January 7th in the Georgian Calendar and this year their Easter is the same date as the Western church's. The difference between the two calendars is only ~13 days. In other words, 0 chance this ever bloomed on Easter. – Lan Apr 12 '17 at 23:15
  • @Nick T: I've seen pohutukawa growing in the SF Bay Area, where they bloom in early summer. – jamesqf Apr 13 '17 at 04:34
48

No.

This flower is the flower of the Metrosideros excelsa, the tree is also called pōhutukawa tree and New Zealand Christmas tree.

According to its wikipedia page the tree:

The tree flowers from November to January with a peak in mid to late December (the Southern Hemisphere summer), with brilliant crimson flowers covering the tree, hence the nickname New Zealand Christmas tree. There is variation between individual trees in the timing of flowering, and in the shade and brightness of the flowers

Picture of the flowers

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