Mume Plant or Japanese Apricot (Meihua)
During the flowering season the buds of Mume Plants (Meihua) can to a certain degree endure snow and low temperatures. Once the weather turns fine, and the highest temperatures approach 10℃, they flower within the next three to five days. Mume Plants are very adaptive in terms of soil, manure, temperature, water, and planting management, and can thus be planted just about anywhere and everywhere. The fruit, plums, are not suitable for eating while still fresh and raw, and may cause discomfort in the stomach and intestine. The plums can be preserved or processed to make prunes, dried plum peels, crisp plums, or other edibles, or to make plum wine, plum vinegar, plum sauce, and even spices. The fruit acids of the plums turn alkaline when entering the human stomach, and therefore can cure indigestion. If one consumes too much greasy food, having some sour plums or sweet-sour plum juice will help with digestion. Pregnant women can eat sour plums to ease their nausea. Putting a few sour plums into spirits moderates the alcohol.