Begonia (begonia)

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Begonia (begonia)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: All Summer
***** Category: Plant

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Explanation

begonia ベゴニア Begonia (generally)
kidachi begonia 木立ベゴニア（きだちべごにあ、こだちべごにあ)
Family Begoniaceae
kigo for all summer



. . . CLICK here for BEGONIA Photos !

. . . CLICK here for kidachi begonia Photos !


quote
Begonia is a genus in the flowering plant family Begoniaceae. The only other member of the family Begoniaceae is Hillebrandia, a genus with a single species in the Hawaiian Islands. The genus Symbegonia is now included in Begonia. "Begonia" is the common name as well as the generic name for all members of the genus.
The genus name coined by Charles Plumier French patron of botany honours Michel Bégon, a former governor of the French colony of Haiti.
With over 1,500 species, Begonia is one of the ten largest angiosperm genera.
The American Begonia Society classifies begonias into several major groups: cane-like, shrub-like, tuberous, rhizomatous, semperflorens, rex, trailing-scandent, or thick-stemmed. For the most part these groups do not correspond to any formal taxonomic groupings or phylogeny and many species and hybrids have characteristics of more than one group, or fit well into none of them.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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kigo for early autumn

Begonia evansiana, Two-colored begonia,
autumn begonia
shūkaidō, shuukaidoo 秋海棠　しゅうかいどう、
..... shūdō, shuudoo　しゅうどう
hardy begonia, Begonia evansiana, Begonia grandis

Some saijiki place this flower to "All Autumn".

Click HERE to see more photos.


Begonia grandis is a herbaceous plant with alternate, simple leaves, on arching stems. The flowers are pink or white, borne in fall.

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Shukaido (Begonia grandis)
© By LINDA INOKI, The Japan Times



Begonia flower:
Tell us what, what in the world,
Are those leaves thinking?

Haiku written on a painting of a dragonfly and begonia
by Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858)

Begonias are a superb family of plants numbering around 1,000 species (many from tropical South America), and with around 10,000 hybrids. There are trailing plants with fiery red flowers from Bolivia; plants with brocade-like leaves from the Himalayan foothills; and even a stately "hollyhock" begonia with fragrant pink flowers from Mexico.

The species above that I painted (Begonia Evansiana) is native to China and arrived in Japan around 1650. Its small, shell-pink flowers hang down from slender red stems, and this accounts for its Japanese name, shukaido, which literally means "autumn crab-apple flower."

Tuberous begonias such as this are popular with gardeners in temperate parts of the world since they can overwinter. Shorter days make the plants dormant, and they survive as tubers to flourish again the following year. Some tuberous varieties produce large and spectacular flowers. The seed is as fine as dust and my father, who is crazy about begonias, crosses one plant with another, collects the seed, and then grows hundreds of new plants to see how the offspring will turn out.

Britain's National Begonia Society has an informative Web site at
http://www.national-begonia-society.co.uk/

© japantimes.co.jp Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006

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Worldwide use

Australia

quote
The City of Ballarat has been growing begonias since 1898 and now have 221 different varieties of tuberous begonias Begonia Tuberhybrida.
These begonias resulted from the hybridisation of just three South American species - B.pearcei, B.boliviensis and B.cinnabarina. Begonia petals are edible; they have a fruity acidic flavour and can be used in salads.

Tuberous begonias don't like frost, nor humidity and are best grown in temperatures between 15 and 27. Suitable climates include Tasmania, south-eastern Australia, along the New South Wales coast and in higher altitudes of New South Wales.

Each plant produces three flowers, including a male flower, and on either side female flowers. The latter are removed so the male flower gives a much finer display. Tuberous begonias are dormant for about eight weeks in winter but in September new shoots will develop and the plant continues its growth cycle.
The begonia festival in Ballarat is on until the 14th of March.
source : John Patrick, 2005


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Things found on the way

Women Zen Masters

A haiku inscribed on a painting called DRAGONFLY AND BEGONIA (Shukaido ni Tombo) by Hiroshige (1797-1858) says:

"Begonia flower --
tell us what, what in the world are those leaves thinking?"

Look at more quotes to meditate.
http://www.earlywomenmasters.net/masters/dogen/index.html


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HAIKU

From the Photo Haiku Gallery

Summer daylight-
in the begonia's shadow
another begonia

Vasile Moldovan

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September the first-
faint red of begonia buds
in elephant-ear leaves

Eiko Yachimoto
http://www.poetrylives.com/SimplyHaiku/SHv1n4/Yachimoto_haiku.html

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Related words

***** AUTUMN . . . PLANTS -
SAIJIKI



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