The Yulan Magnolia trees flower, the White Yulan, is native to China. Cultivated for centuries in China because of its incredible beauty this small tree in now widely planted in America and Europe. Its original birthplace is along the Yangtze River in central and eastern China. The wild White Yulan can still be found growing on Lushan, Huangshan and E’mei mountains. The White Yulan is a beautiful flower and is the official city flower of Shanghai. The tree does not like frost when flowering or budding and does very poorly in cold wet climates such as low valleys along rivers. The trees grow best in similar climates to what it grows native, which is a bright, dry, high altitude with mid temperate ranges. 

The outer shape of the White Yulan flower is similar to a lotus, with its petals extending in all the directions. It is a sparkling and brilliant white flower and is enjoyed deeply by the Chinese. It has faint but refreshing scent, so it is a good flower to plant in yards or front of houses. Symbolically White Yulan is said to represent repaying gratitude and obligation.

There is a touching folk-tale about the White Yulan in China. A long time ago, there were three sisters who lived in the mountains. One day they went down from the mountains to visit the village below for amusement. But upon arriving in the village they found everyone had fallen into strange quietness and despair. The sisters were very surprised and questioned the villagers. They soon found out the cause for the villager’s illness. The First Emperor of Qin had driven the mountains into the ocean to fill in the sea, but in doing so he killed the Dragon-Shrimp princess. The Dragon King was very angry and now considered the people who lived in Zhangjiajie his enemy. The Dragon King locked up all his salt in a great storeroom. Soon the village people became sick and began to die from lack of salt. The three sisters felt very bad for these villagers and helped them to get the salt. But it was not an easy job!

After many refusals, the three sisters finally made the Dragon King’s great warrior, the general crab, cut a hole in the great salt storeroom. All the salt fell through the hole and ran into sea. To this day the oceans are salty because of this. The villagers were saved but the Dragon King was now furious! He turned the three sisters into flowering trees. The villagers called this flowering tree Yulan. The oldest sister was called Red Yulan, the middle White Yulan and the youngest Yellow Yulan. This story is short and simple but shows people’s pursuit for beauty and perfection

In 1986, the authority of Shanghai agreed to select White Yulan as the city flower of Shanghai. Under the climate of Shanghai, the White Yulan opened much earlier, especially around China’s traditional festival: tomb-sweeping day, it’s blooming adds more enchantment to this festival.