Hearts in Flowers

curiously heart-shaped red flowers

I know Valentine’s Day was two weeks ago. But when I was looking at the photos I’ve taken a while back, I couldn’t help not sharing these shots. And since February is not yet over, I told myself that posting them would be a nice way to end Cupid’s month. So here are some photos of heart-shaped flowers.

We don’t have them at home, but my in-laws’ do. I forgot to ask the name of the plant, but I don’t think it’s specie of bleeding heart. For one, if I remember right, it has elongated leaves while bleeding hearts have compound leaves (three leaflets forming one leaf). And the raceme of the flowers (the “stalk” from which the flowers are attached) resemble that of a begonia. In fact, these heart-shaped flowers seem to share the same characteristics with Begonia flowers, except that the former are of course, in the form of hearts.


Thinking about it, I’m becoming more and more convinced that this is a cultivar of Begonia. Begonias have male and female flowers. With this plant, I think the male flowers are the heart shaped ones, and the female flowers are the ones above --- they’re still heart-shaped but between the “hearts” and the pedicels (shirt flower stalk), there’s another part which I believe contains the ovary. And looking inside the “hearts”, there are “twirly” shapes suspended. Separate male and female flowers (with twisted stigmas) occurring in the same plant characterizes begonia flowers. So maybe, this is one of the more peculiar cultivars of begonia. But then, maybe I’m wrong. In any case, I find these flowers really interesting. And a beauty to look at.


I find them prettier than bleeding hearts. I think it’s because they’re more heart-shaped and have a color closer to red. Plus, I like the smooth fragile petals --- a slight pressure on them will cause a “bruise”. I guess like our own hearts, whoever holds it should “handle it with care.” Too bad, they flower in summer and not in February. I think they would be very appropriate and metaphoric for Valentine’s Day --- “I give you all my heart but please be careful with it. Handle it recklessly and it will bruise easily. But with attention and caution, you’ll have it eternally.”