Birth flower for September 23
Red spider lily
Meaning: sad memories, longing to meet again
In Japan it's called higanbana because it blooms right around the autumn equinox, the Buddhist season of Higan, when families visit ancestral graves. Farmers planted it along rice paddies and in cemeteries, where its poisonous bulbs were thought to keep rodents away. Strangely, its flowers and leaves never appear at the same time, which only adds to its eerie reputation.