Wintersweet is one of the various colloquial names for the Asian
shrubs or
trees in the
prunus family, all of which are frequently mistranslated as
plum tree. It flowers in the
winter, sometimes in the
snow. Thus, "
plum" blossoms represent
beauty and
strength, and perseverance in adversity, in
Chinese poetry,
art, and
literature. It's this very trait of
endurance that makes the "plum" blossom less popular than the more ephemeral
sakura/
cherry blossom in
Japan.
When you see a plum blossom in a Chinese or Japanese painting or referred in a poem, it may either pragmatically indicate late
winter, or stand for the metaphoric meanings above. Under
Japanese death poetry, there's a poem using a
plum blossom motif.
Cherry blossoms were pretty common as death imagery, because of their
transience--thus the description of the falling plum blossom is just that much more
poignant.
The variety specifically named wintersweet often has a yellow color to its flowers, and a sweet scent. There's a "Wintersweet Village" (Roubai no Sato) in Annaka,
Gunma,
Japan, where 12,000 trees bloom in January to early February.