Birth flower for March 20
Star magnolia
Meaning: welcome, friendship
Its Japanese name, shidekobushi, comes from shide, the zigzag white paper strips hung on sacred ropes at shrines, which its long narrow tepals resemble. In the wild it grows only in a few wetlands of the Tokai region of Japan and is considered threatened. It blooms on bare branches before the leaves, opening a dozen or more tepals into a star.