Birth flower for January 27
Loquat blossom
Meaning: gentleness, healing
Loquat flowers in early winter, its stems and calyces wrapped in rusty fuzz, with a sweet almond-like scent that feeds bees when little else blooms. The name in Chinese and Japanese is said to come from the leaf's resemblance to the pipa lute. The leaves are brewed as tea in both countries, and the fruit ripens the following early summer.