Is the Christmas rose your birthday flower?

In Japan there is a birthday flower for every day of the year. There are more than flowers for some days. If you were born on December 13th there are two birthday flowers for this day. One of them is the Christmas Rose. It is also the birthday flower of November 16th and December 26th.

Christmas Roses are thus called because they are said to resemble roses. I personally don't really think so! Especially as they flower down, not up like roses. But they do bloom around Christmas time in Japan. They typically bloom from around December to February. But in some places you can still see them in March. Including in one of my local parks where you can see cherry blossoms and Christmas roses bloom at the same time. They make a nice combination.

The meaning of the Christmas Rose both in Japanese and English is "relieve my anxiety". But in Japanese they also represent "comfort" and "slander". The scientific name is "Helleborus" which is derived from the Greek words "helien" 'to cause death' and "bora" which means 'food'. The reason is that the plant has poisonous roots.