Birth flower for September 16
Hardy begonia
Meaning: unrequited love
In China it is also called the heartbreak flower: legend says it sprang up where a woman's tears fell as she longed for someone far away. It is one of the few begonias that can survive winter outdoors in Japan, where it arrived from China in the early Edo period. Tiny bulbils form where the leaves meet the stem, and each one that drops can grow into a new plant.