How much is the value of plum blossoms? Not only for viewing, but also for medicinal use!

This is the 4758th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

"I have no intention of struggling for spring, I just let all the flowers be jealous." Winter has gone and spring has arrived, plum blossoms bloom in the ice and snow, conveying the message of spring. As the first of the four gentlemen of "plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum", plum blossoms first in early spring. Although the growing environment is cold and harsh, it still blooms in full swing. Its optimistic and tenacious qualities complement the Chinese nation's unyielding and fearless qualities. No wonder plum blossoms are known as the national flower. As a plant native to China with a long history, plum blossoms can be said to have ornamental, edible and medicinal values.

Plum Blossom Viewing

When we mention plum blossoms, their refreshing fragrance and their heroic posture of blooming in the snow come to mind, and classic poems such as "Don't let people praise your beautiful color, just leave your pure air to fill the universe", "Plum blossoms are three points less white than snow, but snow is less fragrant than plum blossoms" come to mind. There are records of plum blossoms being used as garden plants in the Han Dynasty, and the trend of appreciating plum blossoms really became popular after the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The elegant ancients had 26 ways to appreciate plum blossoms, such as light clouds, morning sun, clear streams, sweeping snow and brewing tea, etc. If you imagine it, you will feel that each word is a wonderful picture.

Lin Hejing, a famous plum blossom fanatic in the Northern Song Dynasty, loved to plant plum blossoms and raise cranes. He called himself "plum blossoms as wife and cranes as sons". And Wang Mian's "Ink Plum Blossoms" and the ink plum blossom poems written on it are well-known. Even Chairman Mao wrote about plum blossoms in "卜算子﹒咏梅". "Even though the cliff is a hundred feet of ice, the branches are still beautiful." The plum blossoms described by Chairman Mao stand in the ice and snow, with unyielding character. They are the plum blossoms of warriors and even more so the plum blossoms of kings.

Eating plum

The earliest fame of plums lies in the edible value of their fruits. Plums are also called plums, green plums, and sour plums. In ancient times, there was a poem that said "the cool and sour plums splashed on the teeth", which means that when people mention plums, they will feel sour and salivate around their teeth. This is true. Fresh plums are very sour and few people eat them directly. Most of them are eaten after being processed. As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there were records of making dried plums and using plums as acidic condiments to cook meat. The history of plum wine, which is popular among everyone, can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Many literati and celebrities have a special liking for plum wine, and even left behind the story of "discussing heroes over green plum wine". The main ingredient of the traditional Chinese summer drink, sour plum soup, is also plums. The plums we often eat now are also processed plums. It is said that the first person to eat plums was the ancient storyteller. Because the storytelling was dry and dry for a long time, and it was not convenient to drink water, he would hold a salted plum in his mouth to promote saliva secretion and continue telling stories. The storyteller's "book" is called "huaben", so the salted plums are called huamei.

In addition to fruits, plum blossoms are also edible. People often use them to make plum blossom tea, plum blossom wine, plum blossom porridge, plum blossom cakes, etc. There are many recipes about plum blossoms in "Shan Jia Qing Gong" written by Lin Hong, a Jinshi and gourmet in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Plum

Plum is also an ancient Chinese medicine, which was recorded in the "Shennong Bencao Jing" as early as in the "Shennong Bencao Jing". Generally, nearly ripe plums are taken, dried at low temperature and then steamed until they are black, so they are called black plums. Black plums have the effects of astringing the lungs and relieving coughs, astringing the intestines and relieving diarrhea, and promoting the production of body fluids and quenching thirst. They are commonly used to treat chronic cough, asthma, diarrhea and diabetes. Black plums also have a magical "analgesic effect of relieving pain" and were often used in ancient times to treat "ascariasis", that is, the extremely painful "biliary ascariasis". Medical Saint Zhang Zhongjing used black plums as the main medicine to create the famous "Wumei Pills" to relieve pain. Because at this time, the "restless" ascarids in the bile duct cannot be killed and stimulated, but should be "pacified" first. Chinese medicine believes that "acid can calm ascarids", that is, the sour black plums can make ascarids "settled" and achieve a temporary pain relief effect.

In addition, the flowers, leaves, roots, kernels, etc. of plum can also be used as medicine. It is said that the whole body is a treasure!

Is wintersweet the same as plum blossom?

Wintersweet is also a popular ornamental flower. Wintersweet is not actually a plum. Fan Chengda of the Song Dynasty wrote in his book "Plum Book": "Wintersweet is not a plum, but it is named wintersweet because it grows at the same time as plum and has a similar color, which is very similar to beeswax." From a modern botanical perspective, plum belongs to the genus Prunus in the Rosaceae family, while wintersweet belongs to the genus Chimonanthus in the Chimonaceae family. Plum blossoms are trees, while wintersweet is a shrub, which is quite different. However, the flowering period of wintersweet is similar to that of plum, and the fragrance is also similar. Both flowers bloom before leaves, so from an ornamental perspective, it is also regarded as a plum by many people.

Author: Zhu Jiarong, Class of 2019, Five-Year TCM Program, Naval Medical University

Supervisor: Zhang Huiqing, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Naval Medical University

Project funding: The first round of Shanghai Health Science Talent Capacity Improvement Project (JKKPYC-2022-10)