Since 花木兰 is princess of the month, here some thoughts about which 花 fits her the best. The movie, after all, offers some choices. The most obvious one is the magnolia, since that’s the translation of the name Mulan.

Then there is the white 花 花木兰 wears in her hair when she meets the matchmaker – the same 花 she leaves behind when she goes to war. I’m not sure what kind of 花 that’s suppose to be. I first considered lotus (since the lotus is such a reveled 花 in Asia and gets often connected to the gods), but a lotus has 更多 petals. A white 樱桃 blossom would have exactly five petals, but they would be 更多 round. There are some similarities with a white 玉兰, 木兰 花 或者 a lily, but again, both have 更多 petals. My best guess is the 映山红, 杜鹃 - a white 映山红, 杜鹃 has five petals, looks very similiar, but even 更多 important, in China they are a symbol for womanhood (they also symbolize taking care, temperance and fragility, 更多 或者 less everything 花木兰 is expected to be).

And finally, the most important of all, the 花 her father points out to her. I originally assumed that they are sitting under a 樱桃 树 – I think mostly because the 樱桃 blossom is such a big deal in 日本 and there are festivals surrounding it in China, too. But the “Hanami” in 日本 is the one with the long tradition, while China just was inspired 由 it. Plus, the longer I look at it, the 更多 I get the impression that those blossoms are supposed to be magnolias. 你 can compare it yourself to the picture of some magnolias at the right, the similiarity is undeniable. Also it would make the whole scene so much 更多 meaningful, if her father points out a late blooming "Mulan" instead of a 随意 flower. But the scripts of "Mulan" I have found so far don't specify, there is only "blossoms" written, so unless the animators give an answer, we'll never know for sure.

But I admit I like 樱桃 blossoms better for Mulan, since magnolias are fairly sensitive flowers, and 花木兰 is everything but sensitive. 樱桃 blossoms have three different meaning in the language of flowers: They stand for a good education, transience of life (Japan) and feminine beauty (China). All those meanings fit 花木兰 and her story nearly perfectly, although the meaning of magnolias (love of nature) works too.
In the end, I couldn’t really decide - So I made two wallpapers, one with 樱桃 blossoms and one with magnolias, to honor the beauty of a late blooming flower.