Is the Dahlia imperialis your birthday flower?

What a beauty the Dahlia imperialis is. Sometimes it's just called a Tree Dahlia. In Japanese it is called Koutei Dahlia, コウテイダリア, which means Emperor Dahlia. If you were born on November 14th, the Dahlia imperialis is your birthday flower. It is one of two flowers associated with November 14th. The other is the adiantum. Actually both Dahlia imperialis and Adiantium are plants!

As you can see, the Dahlia imperialis looks quite different to other dahlia. It also blooms at a slightly different time to other dahlia, blooming later in Autumn. Typically, you can see it in November and December in Japan. The photo in this post was taken on November 19th 2024 in Saitama Prefecture. At the time I took the photo I didn't even know that this flower was a variety of dahlia. I took the photo because the flowers are so unusual - I see a lot of dahlia in Saitama, but I rarely see this variation, the Dahlia Imperialis. 

The meaning of the Dahlia Imperialis in the Japanese language of flowers (hana no kotoba) is "the sincerity of the maiden" and / or "the purity of the maiden". Reportedly the meaning comes from the appearance of the flowers against a blue autumn sky. Do you see Dahlia Imperialis growing in your prefecture?