Birth flower for November 21
Philippine violet
Meaning: remembrance
Its funnel-shaped violet flowers reminded people in Taiwan of azaleas, so it is called false azalea there, but it is actually in the acanthus family and not related at all. Despite the English name, it comes from India to southern China, not the Philippines. Flowers cluster in the leaf axils above bristly bracts, and it seeds itself so freely that in places such as Hawaii it is treated as a weed.