Birth flower for February 1
Plum blossom
Meaning: Perseverance
Blooming in the depths of winter, the plum is one of the "Three Friends of Winter" with pine and bamboo, a symbol of resilience, and it is the national flower of the Republic of China (Taiwan). In Nara-period Japan, poems about "the flowers" meant plum, not cherry. Legend says a plum tree loved by the exiled scholar Sugawara no Michizane flew overnight to join him in Dazaifu.