How much do you know about the stories and legends of wintersweet?
Wintersweet is also known as waxy plum, wintersweet yellow plum blossom, flower in the snow, wax wood, wax flower, croton flower, winter plum, snow plum, cold plum, golden bell plum, yellow plum, dry-branch plum, early plum, and so on. It is a traditional rare and precious ornamental flower and tree native to China. Wintersweet blooms before spring, ahead of all other flowers. The tiger-hoof plum in particular puts out flowers as early as the tenth lunar month, which is why people call it the early plum. Now let us take a look together at what the flower language of wintersweet is!
The flower language of wintersweet
A loving heart, a noble soul, faithfulness, independence, fortitude, loyalty, strength, steadfastness, purity, lofty integrity, an overawing air, a limpid heart, noble spirit, independence and innovation.
The difference between wintersweet and plum blossom
Wintersweet is not a type of plum; the two are only distantly related. In plant taxonomy, wintersweet belongs to the family Calycanthaceae and is a deciduous shrub, while the plum blossom is a plant of the family Rosaceae. Because they bloom one after another in the cold twelfth lunar month or in early spring, and because their flower shapes and fragrances are similar, people often mistake them for the same species. The flowers of wintersweet grow singly on both sides of the branches, with numerous tepals: the inner ones are smaller and purple-red, the middle ones are larger and yellow with a slight sheen, resembling wax, and the outermost layer is made up of small scales, with the sepals similar to the petals.
The stories and legends of wintersweet
It is said that long ago a rare fierce wind blew through the city of Bianjing. The wind darkened the sky and earth, whipping up sand and stones. In the city of Bianliang shops closed their doors and the common folk hid away. Wherever the great wind passed, trees were snapped and walls destroyed; even the screen wall in front of the emperor's bedchamber in the Forbidden City was blown down. As a result, every move of the emperor and his consorts could be seen clearly by passersby. The emperor felt this was far too unseemly and wanted to replace the screen wall at once, but he was also a very superstitious man and believed the fierce wind came from heaven, sent in the anger of the Heavenly Emperor. Since it had destroyed the old wall, this place was unsuitable for building a wall; this was the will of heaven, and rebuilding on the spot might bring unforeseen misfortune. Yet if the screen wall were not restored here, it would damage the royal dignity and the face of the state. The emperor thought it over again and again but could not come up with any good solution. This ruler, whose word was final before his ministers, was at a loss.
At the morning court the next day, after the hundred officials had paid their respects and before any memorials could be presented, the emperor told the assembled ministers about the screen wall and asked them to discuss a sure plan. The whole court of civil and military officials looked left and right, gazing at one another in dismay.
After half an hour, the chancellor of the left rank stepped forward and said to the emperor with a smile: “Your Majesty, this humble minister is untalented, but I do have an idea. I do not know whether it will suit Your Majesty's wishes.”
The emperor was just worrying over the matter, and when he suddenly heard that the left chancellor had a plan, he quickly nodded in readiness. The chancellor received the decree and said: “Your Majesty, the screen wall of the bedchamber has been destroyed, which is a misfortune for the rear palace, and rebuilding it is all the more inadvisable. If a wintersweet from Yanling were brought here and planted at the gate of the bedchamber, then first, it could ordinarily shield people's eyes and ears; second, it could give shade in summer and offer flowers to enjoy in winter; and third, the wintersweet blooms right at the New Year, and its color is yellow like gold, which is an auspicious sign for the imperial house. This achieves three things at once. I beg Your Majesty to consider it carefully.”
When the emperor heard this, his worried brow smoothed out and he repeatedly praised the idea as wonderful, and immediately approved the memorial. On one hand he sent an order for a banquet to be laid out for the chancellor in the rear garden; on the other, a boat set out from the provincial capital, and an imperial envoy hurried at once to Yanling, ordering the magistrate of Yanling County to send wintersweet to the capital as tribute without delay.
One hundred and sixty li away, the imperial envoy soon arrived at the Yanling County office. When the magistrate of Yanling received the imperial decree, he dared not delay. He immediately went in person, selected a fine century-old wintersweet of the plain-heart variety and a gardener skilled in shaping wintersweet, and sent them together to Bianjing to deliver the decree.
When the wintersweet was brought to the palace and planted in front of the bedchamber gate, the gardener felt that the clustered branches were too sparse and not very attractive, so he wielded his knife and shears, working over the wintersweet branches up and down, left and right for a while, and shaped it into a screen-like form nearly one zhang tall and eight chi wide, exactly the same size as the original screen wall.
When the depths of winter came, with bitter cold and frozen ground, the hundred flowers withered and all the trees were bare. After a heavy snowfall, that wintersweet happily opened its golden buds amid the white snow, turning toward the sun after the snow and putting out petals like beeswax.
That day, after the emperor finished the morning court, he went listlessly to seek pleasure with his consorts. But before he even reached the bedchamber, a rich fragrance came rushing at him, penetrating straight to his heart. When the emperor arrived at the bedchamber and looked carefully, the blooming wintersweet flowers were like strings of golden bells hung upside down, swaying slightly in the piercing cold wind, reflecting the white snow and giving off brilliant golden light. He suddenly felt carefree and joyous, and could not help crying out in amazement: “Truly this is national beauty and heavenly fragrance, the finest flower under heaven.”
Just then, an unknown long-tailed bird flew over and lightly settled on the top branch of the wintersweet, knocking a few flakes of snow from the branch. At the sight, the emperor's desire to paint was stirred. He immediately had the palace attendants bring the four treasures of the study, spread out paper and ground ink, and with his own hand painted a picture titled "Wintersweet and Flying Bird." He also issued a decree to build a plum mountain in the imperial garden and transplant ten thousand wintersweet plants for the imperial family to stroll among and admire.
In this way, the status of wintersweet rose greatly. Princes, palace ministers, powerful clans, and rich gentry all vied to plant wintersweet, and made it a gift to present to one another. Yanling wintersweet thus became famous throughout the world.