Species
+

Prunus mume (Siebold) Siebold & Zucc.

Chinese Plum, Chinese plum, Japanese plum, Japanese apricot, Flowering Apricot, Japanese Apricot

Climate known 62 photographs Temperate garden plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Prunus mume, also known as a Chinese plum, is a tree species in the family Rosaceae. It is also referenced by its flowers as plum blossom. Although referred to as a plum in English, it is classified in the Armeniaca section of the genus Prunus, making it an apricot. Mei flowers, or meihua (梅花), which bloom in the late winter and early spring, notably during the spring festival (春節), symbolize endurance, as they are the first to bloom despite the cold; the flower is one of the Three Friends of Winter.

Text from Wikipedia, “Prunus mume”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Prunus

Prunus is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs from the rose family (Rosaceae) that produce stone fruits, or drupes. As of March 2024, the genus has about 340 accepted species, including almonds, apricots, cherries, peaches, and plums. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, being native to the temperate regions of North America, the neotropics of South America, and temperate and tropical regions of Eurasia and Africa.

Text from Wikipedia, “Prunus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
(Siebold) Siebold & Zucc.
Native to
China South-Central, Laos, Vietnam
Wild records
199 in range· 91 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Jul, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1361mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 241 mm (CHELSA)
Light
18–33DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a temperate garden plant by the genus Prunus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1361 mm a year, wettest June at 241 mm, driest December at 27 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 33 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -3.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Armeniaca mume (Siebold) K.Koch; Armeniaca mume DeVriese; Armeniaca mume Siebold; Armeniaca mume de Vriese; Armeniaca mume f. pendula (Siebold) H.Ohba & S.Akiyama and 28 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a temperate garden plant by the genus Prunus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1070 mm of 1361 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.5 °C against a yearly mean of 17.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1361 mm a year, wettest June at 241 mm, driest December at 27 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1361 mm a year at the habitat, 1070 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 241 mm, driest December at 27 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 916 mm to 2097 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 33 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 33 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -3.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -3.8 °C, the absolute minimum -15.1 °C, about 23 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 3.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells -1.8 °C to 8.4 °C), warmest day 29.1 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 12 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Jul; mean night from 3 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1361 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 165 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -15.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost35.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)-15.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 18–33RH 59–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 165 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C12 / 6–1814 / 9–1917 / 13–2322 / 17–2626 / 20–2827 / 20–3029 / 21–3229 / 21–3226 / 19–3022 / 16–2717 / 12–2313 / 7–19
Night °C3 / -2–85 / -0–109 / 2–1413 / 6–1817 / 10–2221 / 13–2422 / 14–2622 / 13–2519 / 12–2315 / 9–199 / 4–144 / -0–9
Rain mm28 / 8–9143 / 10–12468 / 18–200125 / 26–250189 / 85–314241 / 138–386213 / 149–342180 / 136–292122 / 84–20178 / 47–11547 / 17–8427 / 6–52
DLI18 / 13–2718 / 15–3221 / 17–3726 / 22–4029 / 26–3729 / 26–3433 / 28–3632 / 28–3428 / 23–3024 / 15–2821 / 14–2519 / 14–24
RH %60 / 54–6562 / 52–6663 / 51–6763 / 52–6763 / 56–6765 / 61–7064 / 61–7064 / 61–6963 / 60–6961 / 58–6760 / 57–6459 / 56–64

Each figure is the median across the 165 grid cells holding the 194 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1264:5898 (26.775, 114.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -15.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 165 distinct grid cells holding the 194 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1264:5898 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 27.00_115.000, lapse-corrected -82 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 59 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, Laos, Vietnam· introduced: Hainan, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, China North-Central, China Southeast, Tibet, Xinjiang, Japan, Korea, Taiwan
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker24.83, 114.14 · in the densest population, 125 records (63% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 199 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 91 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 39 km away. 581 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 5 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 199 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Prunus mumePrunus mumePrunus mumePrunus mumePrunus mumePrunus mumePrunus mumePrunus mume

Photographs: (c) E. Goossen, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Yoshihiro Tokue, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Prunus mume, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

The genome of Prunus mume
Qixiang Zhang, Wenbin Chen, Lidan Sun, Fangying Zhao (2012) · Nature Communications
Functional and Expressional Analyses of PmDAM Genes Associated with Endodormancy in Japanese Apricot
R Sasaki, Hisayo Yamane, Tomomi Ooka, Hiroaki Jotatsu (2011) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Efficient synthesis of highly fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots for cell imaging using unripe fruit extract of Prunus mume
Raji Atchudan, Thomas Nesakumar Jebakumar Immanuel Edison, Mathur Gopalakrishnan Sethuraman, Yong Rok Lee (2016) · Applied Surface Science
Chilling-induced oxidative stress and antioxidant responses in mume (Prunus mume) fruit during low temperature storage
Yoshihiro Imahori, Mari Takemura, Jinhe Bai (2008) · Postharvest Biology and Technology
Transcriptome Profiles Reveal the Crucial Roles of Hormone and Sugar in the Bud Dormancy of Prunus mume
Zhiyong Zhang, Xiaokang Zhuo, Kai Zhao, Tangchun Zheng (2018) · Scientific Reports
Comparative analysis of the complete chloroplast genome among Prunus mume, P. armeniaca, and P. salicina
Song Xue, Ting Shi, Wenjie Luo, Xiaopeng Ni (2019) · Horticulture Research
The genetic architecture of floral traits in the woody plant Prunus mume
Qixiang Zhang, He Zhang, Lidan Sun, Guangyi Fan (2018) · Nature Communications
Biological screening of 100 plant extracts for cosmetic use (II): anti‐oxidative activity and free radical scavenging activity
B.J. KIM, J.H. Kim, H.P. Kim, Moon Young Heo (1997) · International Journal of Cosmetic Science

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Prunus 29 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 95 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.