What are the characteristics of plum blossoms? A quick guide to the latest plum blossom features
Plum blossom is a deciduous tree of the genus Prunus in the Rosaceae family, sometimes also referring to its fruit (the plum) or flower (the plum blossom), usually blooming in winter and spring, listed together with orchids, bamboo and chrysanthemums as the “Four Gentlemen,” and also called one of the “Three Friends of Winter” together with pine and bamboo, and with its cold-resistant characteristics it has become the flower representing winter. Let's take a look below at what characteristics plum blossoms have!
Appearance characteristics of plum blossoms
Plum blossom is a small tree, rarely a shrub, 4 to 10 m tall, with bark that is light gray or tinged with green, green branchlets, and leaves that are ovate or elliptic with a caudate-acuminate apex and a broadly cuneate to rounded base, the leaf margins often bearing small sharp serrations. The flowers are solitary or sometimes 2 together in one bud, strongly fragrant, opening before the leaves, with short pedicels; the calyx is usually reddish brown, the calyx tube broadly campanulate, the sepals ovate or nearly circular, and the petals obovate and white to pink. The fruit is nearly spherical, sour, with the flesh adhering to the stone, and the stone is elliptic; the flowering period is winter and spring, and the fruiting period is May to June (in North China the fruiting period extends to July to August).
Growth characteristics of plum blossoms
Plum blossom prefers a warm climate and is not strongly cold-resistant; except for varieties of the apricot plum group, which can withstand low temperatures of -25°C, it generally withstands low temperatures of -10°C. It is relatively drought-tolerant and not waterlogging-tolerant, and it is long-lived, reaching up to a thousand years. The flowering period is particularly sensitive to climate change; it likes relatively high air humidity but dislikes heavy rain. It is heat-tolerant and can still grow at 40°C, and grows and develops best in areas with an annual average temperature of 16 to 23°C. It is very sensitive to temperature, flowering when the average temperature in early spring reaches -5 to 7°C; if low temperatures occur, the flowering period is delayed, and if low temperatures occur during flowering, the flowering period can be prolonged.
Spiritual characteristics of plum blossoms
1. Plum blossoms are the first to open in the bitter cold, and then they bring forth the fragrance released by the profusion of a hundred flowers; therefore plum blossoms, like chrysanthemums, have received the admiration and praise of poets. Chen Liang of the Song Dynasty wrote in "Plum Blossom": “One flower suddenly changes first, and all the hundred flowers are fragrant after.” The poet seized on the characteristic of the plum blossom being the first to open and wrote of the quality of fearing no blows or setbacks and daring to be first in the world; it praises the plum and also praises himself. Wang Anshi's "Plum Blossom": “From afar I know it is not snow, for a subtle fragrance comes.” The lines not only describe how the plum blossom's fragrance spreads far on the wind, but also subtly express the plum blossom's purity and whiteness, achieving an artistic effect excellent in both fragrance and color. Lu You's famous ci poem "Ode to the Plum Blossom": “Scattered and fallen, it becomes mud and is ground to dust, yet only its fragrance remains as before.” He used the plum blossom as a metaphor for his own unfortunate experience of being repeatedly battered and his noble sentiment of being unwilling to join in with the corrupt crowd. Wang Mian of the Yuan Dynasty wrote in "Ink Plum": “I do not want people to praise its color as good; I only wish to leave its pure spirit filling heaven and earth.” This too uses the ice-pure and jade-clean plum blossom to reflect his own quality of being unwilling to join in with the corrupt crowd, with simple words but deep meaning.
2. Plum blossoms still bloom unyieldingly in the cold winter, symbolizing that our nation's precious qualities of unyielding perseverance, tenacious struggle and fearlessness of hardship are all well embodied in them. In ancient times we already had poets chanting poems in praise of plum blossoms: “A few branches of plum by the corner of the wall, blooming alone in the cold. From afar I know it is not snow, for a subtle fragrance comes.” Plum blossoms are also regarded as the flower species with the greatest moral integrity. In addition, although plum blossoms grow in harsh environments, they still bloom joyfully, expressing an optimistic character that welcomes hope. Since ancient times people have praised her spirit of braving the snow, her solitary, noble beauty of not competing with the hundred flowers for spring.