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Kimjongilia

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Also known as Begonia ×tuberhybrida ‘Kimjongilia’

Kimjongilia is a flower named after the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. It is a hybrid cultivar of tuberous begonia, registered as Begonia × tuberhybrida 'Kimjongilhwa'. When Kim Jong Il died in December 2011, the flower was used to adorn his body for public display. Despite its name, the Kimjongilia is not the official national flower of North Korea, which is the Magnolia sieboldii. Another flower, Kimilsungia, is an orchid cultivar named after Kim Jong Il's father and predecessor, Kim Il Sung.

Key facts

Cultivar.name
Begonia 'Kimjongilhwa'
Cultivar.image
Laika ac Kimilsungia-Kimjongilia Exhibition House (7984388458).jpg
Cultivar.genus
Begonia
Cultivar.group
Tuberhybrida Group
Cultivar.cultivar
'Kimjongilhwa'
Korean name/auto.hangul
%김정일%화
Korean name/auto.hanja
金正日花

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
cultivar
Named after
Kim Jong-il
Image
Laika ac Kimilsungia-Kimjongilia Exhibition House (7984388458).jpg
Show 5 more facts
Commons category
Kimjongilia
taxon name
Begonia × tuberhybrida ‘Kimjongilia’
taxon rank
cultivar
Revised Romanization
Gimjeongilhwa
McCune–Reischauer romanization
Kimjŏngirhwa
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~2 min read

Encyclopedic overview

7 sections
Contents
  • History
  • Bloom
  • Song
  • See also
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links

Kimjongilia is a flower named after the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. It is a hybrid cultivar of tuberous begonia, registered as Begonia × tuberhybrida 'Kimjongilhwa'. When Kim Jong Il died in December 2011, the flower was used to adorn his body for public display. Despite its name, the Kimjongilia is not the official national flower of North Korea, which is the Magnolia sieboldii. Another flower, Kimilsungia, is an orchid cultivar named after Kim Jong Il's father and predecessor, Kim Il Sung.

==History== To commemorate Kim Jong Il's 46th birthday in 1988, Japanese botanist Kamo Mototeru cultivated a new perennial begonia named "kimjongilia" (literally, "flower of Kim Jong Il"), representing the Juche revolutionary cause of the Dear Leader. It was presented as a "token of friendship between Korea and Japan". The flower symbolizes wisdom, love, justice and peace. It is designed to bloom every year on Kim Jong Il's birthday, February 16.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Kimjongilia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.