Birth flower for March 28
Chinese fringe tree
Meaning: purity
Each spring the Chinese fringe tree disappears under countless narrow white petals, so in Taiwan it is called April snow. Its Japanese name means single-leaf ash, because its leaves are simple while true ash leaves are divided. Rare and puzzling to people long ago, it earned the nickname nanja-monja, roughly what on earth is that. A wild grove at Waniura on Tsushima island is a national natural monument.