Plant · P-406

Japanese Apricot

Prunus mume

Japanese Apricot blooms in the depth of winter on bare wood, ahead of almost every other hardy tree, feeding pollinators weeks or months before anything else flowers - though that same early bloom exposes the crop to any hard freeze that follows. The fruit stays hard and sour even fully ripe, so the real yield is salt-pickled umeboshi, the vinegar drawn off it, the steeped liqueur umeshu, and flowers used to flavour tea. Unlike most stone fruit it actually prefers some afternoon shade where summers run hot, making it easier to place in a hot climate than its relatives.