The handkerchief tree, sometimes called the Dove tree – Davidia involucrata – from South East China. There are two of them in the Botanic Garden in Cambridge.
Until this year I thought there was only one specimen, and each year I somehow missed the time of the handkerchiefs.
This year I understand why. It’s because they last such a short time,.
The ‘handkerchiefs’ are bracts (modified leaves) that hang either side of the flowers. When they first come out, the flowers are dark and spherical. And within a couple of days they open and turn white and dotted with black, and the bracts turn yellow and flutter away.
From a distance, the bracts hang down, looking like delicate handkerchiefs hanging down one after another along every branch.
I am so pleased to have seen them. – to be in touch with this.
Photograph Works 