Birth flower for November 18
Rice-paper plant
Meaning: craft, perseverance
The soft white pith inside its stems can be shaved into thin sheets called pith paper, used for paintings and artificial flowers. From the Qing era into the Japanese colonial period, pith paper from Taiwan was exported in large amounts. Look for its enormous, deeply lobed, fuzzy leaves and, in late autumn, tall sprays of creamy white flower balls.