Or maybe not. It has several names. I asked Michael what he would call it and he said 'Ghost Flower Tree.' Ada thought 'Bat Tree.'
In the UK it's known as the Pocket Handkerchief Tree and, indeed, the Ghost Tree. In its native China, it's called the Dove Tree.
The tree's botanical name is Davidia involucrata, which wouldn't tell you that it's a Chinese native unless you knew that the David for whom it is named was Abbe Armand David, the French Franciscan missionary and naturalist who explored China in the 19th century. David was the first westerner to document the tree, as well the first to know of the Giant Panda.
Sadly, the tree is rare now in China, but it remains popular in the US and UK where it's grown as a specimen ornamental.
This one is in Uppark in East Sussex.