Birth flower for February 26
Japanese andromeda
Meaning: self-sacrifice
Its Japanese and Chinese names mean horse-drunk tree, because horses that eat the leaves stagger as if drunk; the whole plant contains grayanotoxins. The deer of Nara Park avoid it too, so it grows thickly there. It already appears in the Manyoshu, Japan's oldest poetry anthology. Red new leaves and chains of white jar-shaped flowers make a pretty early spring pair.