China is the homeland of the plum blossom, boasting over 150 varieties. Cultivating and appreciating plum blossoms has long been a refined pastime among the Chinese people. As far back as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, plum trees were widely planted—not for their flowers, but for their fruits used as sour seasoning. The plum is also considered a tree of longevity. Today, the oldest surviving plum tree in China is the Yuanmei at Panlong Temple in Jinning County, Kunming, which is over 750 years old.After the Northern Song Dynasty, climate shifts rendered plum trees unsuitable for outdoor cultivation in northern regions. This marked the beginning of deliberate cultivation for ornamental purposes. As the verse states: "Without enduring bone-chilling cold, how could plum blossoms yield their intoxicating fragrance?" Medically, the aromatic molecules in plum blossoms possess calming properties. For insomnia, a morning stroll among plum trees with deep breathing for ten to fifteen minutes yields notable therapeutic effects.
Plum trees bear fruit in May after flowering. Plums are an alkaline food, containing higher levels of minerals like calcium and iron than apples or oranges. Per 100 grams of flesh, they provide approximately 65 milligrams of calcium. They also regulate intestinal, gastric, and hepatic functions, treating conditions like constipation and diarrhea.After consuming excessive acidic foods like meat, fish, alcohol, or sugar, eating preserved plums like candied plums or dried tangerine peel plums helps neutralize the acidity and boost metabolism. Fresh plums are best enjoyed soaked in wine or steeped in tea.
Plum blossoms have medicinal uses: white plum blossoms soothe the liver, harmonize the stomach, and dissolve phlegm, treating liver-stomach pain, poor appetite, and dizziness;Red plum blossoms clear liver stagnation and relieve depression, treating headaches and eye pain.
In Chapter 19 of Dream of the Red Chamber, when Xiren attended to Baoyu, "she used her own foot warmer as a footrest, took two plum blossom incense cakes from her pouch, opened her hand warmer to burn them, then closed it again...""Plum blossom incense cakes" were small, plum-shaped cakes made from powdered fragrances, suitable for carrying in pouches or burning. In Chapter 42 of the same novel, "Plum Blossom Tongue-Soothing Pill" is mentioned—a pill concocted from 15 ingredients including bear bile, realgar, plum blossoms, and borneol, primarily treating carbuncles, malignant sores, and sore throats.
The medicinal value of plum blossoms primarily lies in its fruits: green plums, black plums, and white plums, with black plums being the most commonly used.
(1) Medicinal Use and Collection: Leaves, flowers, stems, roots, fruits, and seeds are used medicinally. Leaves are harvested in spring, summer, and autumn; flowers are picked during early spring bloom; stems and roots are collected as needed; fruits are gathered separately when green and ripe; seeds are obtained by removing the fruit skin.
(2) Properties and Meridian Tropism: Neutral in nature, sour in taste, non-toxic. Enters the Liver, Spleen, Lung, and Large Intestine meridians.
(3) Functions and Indications: Black plum astringes fluids, calms parasites, and expels worms. Indicated for chronic cough, deficiency-heat thirst, chronic malaria, persistent diarrhea,dysentery, bloody stools, hematuria, menorrhagia, ascariasis-induced syncope with abdominal pain and vomiting, hookworm disease, psoriasis, and pterygium. White plum treats sore throat, dysentery with thirst, globus hystericus, abscesses and swellings, and external bleeding. Leaves treat intermittent dysentery and cholera. Roots treat wind-paralysis, intermittent dysentery,cholecystitis, scrofula. The stem treats habitual miscarriage in women. The seed kernel clears summer heat, improves vision, and relieves restlessness.
(IV) Applications and Formulas:
1. For all types of sores and skin tags: Grind one black plum flesh into a paste with salt water, mix with wax tea, add vinegar, and consume. Alternatively, grind black plum, Coptis, and stove ash into powder, mix with tea, and consume.Alternatively, char the plum flesh until carbonized, grind into powder, and apply to infected tissue. (Compendium of Materia Medica)
2. Boils, abscesses, and swellings (both ulcerated and non-ulcerated): Char salted white plums until carbonized, grind into powder. Mix with a small amount of mercury white and sesame oil, then apply around the lesion. (Wang's Easy and Simple Formulas)
3. Fractures and traumatic wounds:Burn dried plum until charred, grind into powder, and apply. (Thousand Gold Prescriptions)
4. Pain from horse sweat entering wounds: Pound black plum with pit into paste, mix with vinegar, and apply. First lance the wound to expel purple blood before applying and securing. (Experienced Prescriptions)
5. Rabid dog bite toxicity: Take two qian of black plum powder with wine.(Thousand Gold Prescriptions)
6. Severe swelling and pain in fingertips: Pound black plum flesh with fermented fish paste and apply as a poultice. (Li Lou's Extraordinary Formulas)
7. Infant scalp sores: Burn black plums to ash, mix with raw oil, and apply. (Sacred Relief Record)
8. Cold-induced sores on the lower body:Roast three liang of dried plum pulp into powder, mix with refined honey into walnut-sized pills. Boil pomegranate root bark into decoction, take thirty pills before meals. (Sacred Beneficial Formulas)
9. Sulfur poisoning causing back pain, oppression, and blurred vision: One liang of dried plum pulp (baked), half liang of rock sugar, one large bowl of whey. Boil down to seven parts, sip.(Compendium of Materia Medica)
10. For sore throat and tonsillitis: Pickle twenty green plums in twelve ounces of salt for five days. Extract the plum juice, add three ounces of alum, two ounces each of platycodon root, angelica dahurica, and saposhnikovia root, plus thirty soapberry pods. Grind all ingredients into a fine powder, mix with the plum juice and plums, then store in a jar. Take one plum at a time, sucking on it until the juice is swallowed.For stroke-induced paralysis with locked jaw, rub this mixture on the affected area.
11. Diabetes with thirst and restlessness: Lightly roast 2 ounces of black plum pulp into powder. Take 2 grams per dose. Boil with 2 cups of water until reduced to 1 cup. Strain, add 200 fermented black beans, and simmer until half a cup remains. Drink warm.(Concise Formulas for the Masses)
12. Diarrhea with thirst: Decoct black plums as a tea substitute for daily consumption. (Essential Formulas for Longevity)
13. Postpartum diarrhea with thirst: Take twenty black plum pulps and twelve parts of Ophiopogon tuber. Simmer in one liter of water until reduced to seven deciliters. Sip slowly. (Universal Relief Formulas)
14.For bloody diarrhea with abdominal pain: Combine aged white plums with equal parts authentic tea and honey water, decoct, and drink. Another formula: Stir-fry 4 ounces each of black plum pulp and Coptis rhizome, grind into powder, mix with refined honey into pills the size of a gooseberry. Take 20 pills each time, three times daily. (Sacred Grace) Another formula: Decoct plum leaves in water as a tea substitute; char black plums until carbonized, grind into powder, take 1 gram three times daily with rice gruel.
15. Dysentery with pus and blood: Remove pits from one ounce of black plum, char, and grind into powder. Take two money per dose with soup. (Shengji Zonglu)
16. Persistent dysentery with intestinal residue expelled: Simmer twenty black plum pulp pieces in one bowl of water until reduced to six parts. Divide into two doses before meals. (Zhouhou) Another formula:Mash seven black plum and seven white plum pulps. Add a pinch of frankincense powder. Pound into pills the size of a tung seed. Take 20-30 pills each time with tea broth, three times daily. (Pocket Compendium)
17. Hemorrhagic stool, persistent diarrhea: Burn 3 ounces of black plum to charcoal, grind into powder. Mix with vinegar-cooked rice paste into pills the size of a tung seed.Take twenty pills on an empty stomach with rice gruel, three times daily. (Ji Sheng Fang)
18. Hematuria: Burn black plum to charcoal, grind into powder. Mix with vinegar paste into walnut-sized pills. Take forty pills each time with wine. (Ben Cao Gang Mu)
19. Uncontrollable uterine bleeding: Burn seven black plum fruits to charcoal, grind into powder. Take with rice gruel, twice daily.
20. Constipation with life-threatening gas buildup: Soak ten black plums in boiling water, remove pits, and form into date-sized pills. Insert into the lower orifice; relief follows shortly. (Shiliao Bencao)
21. Cholera with vomiting and diarrhea: Simmer salted plums in decoction and sip slowly. (Ruyi Fang)
22.Water Retention with Urgency: Take three black plums and three dates. Boil in four liters of water until reduced to two liters. Add honey and mix well. Swallow the mixture. (Sheng Ji Zong Lu)
23. Plum-Nucleus Dyspepsia: Take plums half green and half yellow. Cure each with one ounce of salt for one day and night. Sun-dry them, then soak and sun-dry again until all water is absorbed.Take three copper coins, sandwich two plums between them, bind tightly with hemp thread, place all in a porcelain jar, seal, and bury underground. Retrieve after one hundred days. Take one plum at a time, hold in mouth, and swallow the juice. (Gong's Experienced Formulas)
24. For severe abdominal distension and pain with shortness of breath nearing collapse: Take forty-two black plums and five liters of water. Bring to a boil once, add forty-two copper coins, boil down to two and a half liters, and drink all at once.(Shi Hou)
25. For chronic malaria and debility: Take fourteen black plums, two measures of fermented black beans, one tiger's mouth each of peach and willow branches, three inches of licorice, and one piece of ginger. Simmer in two liters of a child's urine until reduced by half. Drink while warm to stop symptoms.(Illustrated Classic of Materia Medica)
26. Persistent cough: Lightly roast dried plum flesh; remove membranes from poppy shells and stir-fry with honey. Grind equal parts into powder. Take two qian per dose with honey water before sleep.
27. Phlegm-induced syncope with headache: Thirty dried plum pieces, three pinches of salt, three liters of wine. Simmer until reduced to one liter; drink all at once.(From Shihou Fang)
28. For headache with high fever and chest pain in typhoid fever lasting four or five days: Take fourteen black plums, five measures of salt, and one liter of water. Simmer until reduced to half a liter. Drink warm to induce vomiting. After vomiting, avoid drafts. (From Meishi Fang)
29. For epidemic diarrhea with inability to eat: Take one liter of Coptis rhizome and twenty black plums (roasted dry).Grind into powder. Mix with wax the size of a chess piece and one liter of honey over low heat until pillable. Form into pills the size of a walnut. Take two pills at a time, three times daily. (Sheng Hui Fang · Wu Mei Wan)
30. For women with excessive menstrual bleeding: Burn dried black plum into ash, grind into powder, and take with Wu Wu Tang decoction.(Women's Effective Formulas)
31. For cold-induced convulsions and chronic diarrhea: 300 dried black plums, 6 ounces asarum root, 10 ounces dried ginger, 16 ounces Coptis rhizome, 4 ounces angelica root, 6 ounces processed aconite root (roasted, peeled), 4 ounces Sichuan pepper (sweated), 6 ounces cinnamon bark (peeled), 6 ounces ginseng, 6 ounces phellodendron bark.Grind the ten ingredients separately, then combine. Soak the dried plums in vinegar overnight, remove pits, steam with five dou of rice. When rice is cooked, mash into paste. Mix thoroughly with the powdered ingredients. Place in mortar, pound with honey 2,000 times. Form into pills the size of a wuzhi seed. Take ten pills before meals with liquid, three times daily. Gradually increase to twenty pills. Avoid raw, cold, slippery, or foul-smelling foods.