When do mountain myrtle berries ripen? A detailed guide to the ripening period

The mountain myrtle is fairly common in the south, and it also has a rather pleasant name, called taojinniang, and it is also a distinctive wild fruit among everyday fruits. It is an evergreen shrub, with flowers that have some white soft hairs, and it keeps changing color throughout the continuous ripening process. Today I will share with you when mountain myrtle berries ripen.

There is a children's song dedicated to describing the mountain myrtle: On the sixth of the sixth month, the mountain myrtle is about to ripen. On the seventh of the seventh month, the mountain myrtle is black and darker still. The ripening season of the mountain myrtle is roughly after the middle of the seventh lunar month. Entering the seventh month, folk legend says the gates of hell open wide, and many wandering ghosts, after leaving hell, also like to pick mountain myrtle berries. To prevent running into ghosts, from the first day of the seventh month to the fourteenth day of the seventh month, adults do not allow children to go up the mountains to pick mountain myrtle berries.

On the fourteenth day of the seventh month, after every household slaughters a chicken to worship and pay respects to the ghosts and gods, once the fifteenth day of the seventh month has passed, children can happily go into the mountains in groups to pick mountain myrtle berries.

The whole mountain myrtle plant is a treasure; not only are the mountain myrtle berries beneficial, the mountain myrtle leaves and mountain myrtle roots each have their own uses, but there are also some matters to note when eating them, and just paying a little attention is enough.