In 2014, Beijing Forestry University student Xu Wan submitted an application for the recognition of a new cultivar of the crape myrtle species Lagerstroemia indica named Lingmeng. The name was derived from Touhou Project protagonist Reimu Hakurei at the suggestion of her friend Li Yaolin, who was a fan of the games and noticed similarities between the cultivar's petals and Reimu's signature bow. "Lingmeng" is the Chinese reading of the kanji in Reimu's given name, 霊夢 (rendered as 灵梦 in simplified Chinese). Xu's application was accepted in 2017, though it didn't receive widespread attention until the following year, when it caught the attention of Touhou fans and general ACG fans on the Chinese internet.