Out early this morning. After watching the sunrise and feeding my boys breakfast, I went to the old armory. They let me in before opening time and I got up on the wall that goes all of the way around the old fort. On the wall I came across what the locals call “Santo Papa” or “Maria Maria”.

This is a great find as it is rare and so uniquely beautiful!

Wikipedia
In the Philippines, the fruit of Passiflora foetida are known colloquially as marya-marya ('Little Mary'), 'kurombot', and santo papa (due to its resemblance to the Pope's mitre). Young leaves and plant tips are also edible.

I have met many local people that have never seen this plant or noticed it. I have also met some that said they used to eat the fruit when they were school kids and very hungry.

Well today it was a treat for me to discover a relatively large vine and many of these incredible flower like bulbs fully opened and displaying their glory. The other nice thing is I saw them during the first hour of daylight. Even when taking photos of items other than the sunrise or sunset, the first or last hour of daylight is the best time to take photos of most other things. The color reflecting during this golden hour is more rich and flower photography especially is best taken during this time.

These flowers are incredible! The deep colors and intricate geometry is amazing. They are like three distinct flowers in one. White on the outer perimeter, then purple and white, then the layer of green. To me, they look like a diagram you would see in a science text book. Today this was a real treat for me. I hope you also enjoy!

I took these photos today, Thursday Oct 18. All photos taken with my Huawei Nova 2i, in the Philippines area of Misamis Occidental on the Island of Mindanao. The next photo I took with my finger as a reference to demonstrate the size of this beauty.

Here are a few more captures.

I did take a few shots of the sunrise and I did say this taken inside a fort and armory. A historic place for this area. Perhaps I will do a feature on the fort one day.

The entrance to the fort. It says 1756 as the year.