What season does the wintersweet bloom?
Compared to the experience of most people in terms of the blooming season of wintersweet and the introduction of its flowering period and green plant maintenance, let's follow the editor to take a look!
It's about to enter the twelfth month, and this period is a good time to appreciate wintersweet. On weekends, invite two or three good friends, bring a camera, carry a bag, and set off on foot or by car to search for wintersweet in parks or mountains. This is nothing less than a spiritual cleansing.
Both wintersweet and plum blossoms bloom in winter and spring, and both names contain the character "梅" (mei), which leads many friends to believe that these two flowers are the same, just with different names. Some also think that there are many varieties of plum blossoms, and wintersweet is just one of them. Actually, both of these statements are incorrect.梅花 and wintersweet have no close relationship in botanical classification. In botanical classification, wintersweet belongs to the wintersweet family wintersweet genus, while梅花 belongs to the rose family plum genus. Therefore, it can be said that compared to cherry blossoms, peach blossoms, and plum blossoms, which all belong to the rose family, their relationship with梅花 is much closer than with wintersweet.
However, in daily life, many people cannot distinguish between wintersweet and plum blossoms. Today, the editor will teach you some quick identification methods. I believe that after learning these methods, everyone will no longer confuse wintersweet with plum blossoms!
I. Different blooming periods
Wintersweet blooms in the cold winter, with the peak bloom period in the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, hence it is also known as cold plum or winter plum. On the other hand, plum blossoms bloom in early spring, with the peak bloom period from February to April, so it is also known as spring plum. If you pay attention, you will find that in the writings of literary and artistic circles, wintersweet is often referred to as the "cold guest" among flowers, while plum blossoms are called the "clear guest."
II. Different flower colors
The flowers of wintersweet are mostly蜡 yellow, with other colors being rare.
Image of wintersweet
The color of plum blossoms is more varied, with common colors including deep red, purple red, pink, and white.
Image of plum blossom
Image of plum blossom
What season does the wintersweet bloom?
Image of plum blossom
III. Different overall forms
Wintersweet is a shrub with branched, upright branches. The height of the branched clusters is generally 2~4 meters, and the main stem can grow up to 4~8 meters.
Image of wintersweet, with branched and mostly straight branches.
Plum blossoms are trees with a trunk that can grow to 5 to 10 meters, which is not much different from wintersweet. However, unlike wintersweet, plum branches usually have thorns, and in addition to straight branches, there will also be pendulous and twisted branches.
Image of plum, with thorns on branches, and in addition to straight branches, there will also be pendulous and twisted branches.
IV. Different fragrance
Comparing the fragrance of the flowers, wintersweet emits a fresh scent when blooming, while the fragrance of plum blossoms is fresher and more elegant than that of wintersweet, meaning the fragrance of wintersweet is stronger.
V. Different leaves
We know that the main leaf arrangement methods are opposite, alternate, and whorled. The leaf growth methods of plum blossoms and wintersweet are different.
The leaves of wintersweet are opposite, entire, without teeth, close to leathery in texture, shaped like an elongated ellipse, rough on the upper surface and green, smooth on the back and gray;
Opposite is one of the leaf arrangement forms, meaning two leaves grow on each node.
The leaves of plum blossoms are alternate, with fine and sharp锯齿 on the edge, the leaves are broadly ovate to ovate, and the length is about 4~10 centimeters.
The following image is not the leaf of a plum blossom, but it is just to illustrate the difference between opposite and alternate leaf arrangement:
Alternate is also a type of leaf arrangement, referring to a single leaf growing on each node, alternating on both sides.
We know that both wintersweet and plum blossoms bloom before leaves. During the flowering period, I believe everyone can distinguish between the two based on the differences in flowering period, flower color, and fragrance mentioned above.
When not flowering, everyone can distinguish them by the overall form and leaves of wintersweet and plum blossoms.
Through the points mentioned above by the editor of the Green Plant Enthusiast website, I believe everyone will no longer mistake wintersweet for plum blossoms and be confused!
This article shares a comprehensive introduction to the blooming season of wintersweet and its flowering period introduction, hoping to bring some knowledge about green plants to green plant enthusiasts.