National flower means a flower that stands for a country.
The national flower of the DPRK is Mokran(Magnolia).
Mokran(Magnolia) is named by President Kim Il Sung.
This flower has been called peony and loved by the Korean people since olden times.
Seeing it, President Kim Il Sung said that he felt something wanting if such a beautiful tree was merely called a peony. He said that the Korean people adding a suffix ran to a fragrant and beautiful flower from olden times and it would be good to call it Mokran as it is a beautiful flower which blooms on the tree.(mok means a tree.)
President Kim Il Sung said it seemed that Mokran(Magnolia) shows the resourceful mettle of the Korean people because it is beautiful, strong, simple and elegant.
Since then it has been called Mokran(Magnolia) and become the national flower of the DPRK.
Mokran(Magnolia) tree is 2~5 metres high.
Usually, several stalks come out of the root neck to form a plant and rarely, a single stalk grows into a tall tree.
Its bark is light grey and quite smooth.
Its fresh branch has thick brown hair, its leaves are out in disorder and it has a short leafstalk.
Flowers are in full bloom between late May and mid June.
A flower usually blooms for a week and the flower is more beautiful as colors of petal, stamen and pistil are in harmony.
Mokran(Magnolia) is cold-resistant and grows well on the climatic condition of the DPRK. It can be cultivated at annual average temperature of 8~10ºC, the lowest temperature of -26ºC and the highest temperature of 33ºC. Mokran(Magnolia) needs high humidity of soil and atmosphere and much more humidity especially at the blooming time.
President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il saw that many Mokran(Magnolia) trees were planted so that Mokran(Magnolia) could bloom over the country.
Thanks to the ardent love for the country of the peerlessly great men, an ordinary flower could have such beautiful name as “Mokran(Magnolia)”, national flower of the DPRK, demonstrating its resourceful spirit to the world.
