May It Flourish Like Abundant White Flowers... Gimhae's New City Tree Selected as 'Ipapnamu'

The symbolic tree of Gimhae City, Gyeongnam Province, has been changed to the ‘Ipap tree’.

The city announced on the 13th that it had changed the city tree, a natural symbol, from the ginkgo tree to the Ipap tree after 30 years, by promulgating the revised Gimhae City Symbol Ordinance on the 9th.

According to the city, the existing city tree, the ginkgo tree, was designated when Gimhae City and Gimhae County merged in 1995, but there were criticisms that it lacked symbolism and representativeness.

There were also continuous opinions that the change was necessary because in autumn, when the ginkgo tree fruits ripen, the smell from the seed shells caused a negative perception of the tree.

Accordingly, since the end of last year, the city listened to citizens’ opinions, consulted experts, and went through procedures such as the city council’s resolution to decide on the Ipap tree as the new city tree. Currently, the city flower is the plum blossom, and the city bird is the wild goose.

Natural Monument No. 307, Ipap Tree in Cheongok-ri, Juchon-myeon, Gimhae-si, Gyeongnam.
[Photo by Gimhae City Hall]

The Ipap tree is said to have been called ‘Iphamok’ because its flowers bloom around Ip-ha (the beginning of summer), and the pronunciation changed to Ipap. It is also said that the name comes from the pure white flowers resembling steamed rice grains (I-bap), similar to the Jolpap tree which blooms flowers that look like millet rice grains.

It is said that when many Ipap tree flowers bloom, it predicts a bountiful year, and when few bloom, a poor harvest, so it was regarded as a sacred tree for forecasting the year’s harvest.

The abundant white flowers of the Ipap tree symbolize the prosperous Gimhae, and the tree’s long life and history represent the city’s endless development.

As a globally rare species mainly distributed in Korea, China, and Japan, Korea has succeeded in artificial propagation, making the Ipap tree commonly seen as a street tree.

The city explained that the Ipap tree, which is easily seen throughout the city and has high familiarity among citizens, has sufficient representativeness because there is a natural monument No. 185 in Juchon-myeon with a tree over 600 years old, and in Sincheon-ri, there is the oldest Ipap tree in Korea, also over 600 years old.

Natural Monument No. 185, Ipap Tree in Sincheon-ri, Hallim-myeon, Gimhae-si, Gyeongnam.
[Photo by Gimhae City Hall]

A city official said, “We will increase the planting of street trees and promote the Ipap tree in various ways so that it can establish itself as the new natural symbol,” adding, “Since a city tree with symbolism and representativeness has been newly selected, we expect it to help enhance the city’s image.”

He added, “Like the Ipap tree symbolizing abundance, we hope Gimhae City will become a sustainably growing city.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.