Wu Lian Mei

Prunus mume is a deciduous tree of the Rosaceae family native to southern China and long cultivated across East Asia, often called the Chinese plum or Japanese apricot. The tree grows four to ten meters tall with a rounded spreading crown and smooth grey bark that becomes finely fissured with age. Leaves are alternate, broadly ovate to elliptic, finely serrate, with an abruptly pointed tip and short petiole. The plant is famous for its fragrant flowers borne singly or in pairs in late winter to early spring on bare leafless branches, with five rounded petals ranging from white through pink to deep rose. The fruit is a small rounded green drupe ripening to yellow, sour and astringent when raw, traditionally salted, smoked, or fermented into the dark wrinkled medicinal form known as Wu Mei.