Prunus (Hawthorne/Plum)

Symbol of Winter, corresponding to the month of January. One of the "Three Friends of Winter". Emblem of beauty, purity and longevity, for it is believed that Laozi was born under its branches. In modern China Prunus is the National Flower, its petals signifying the five peoples: Han, Manchu, Mongol, Mohammedan and Tibetan. The "plum" in Chinese art is botanical Prunus mume or mei and more closely related to the Apricot then the Plum, and so rare in the West that it does not have any Western name.

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© Jan-Erik Nilsson, Gothenburg, Sweden 1998-2007