十二月的扇平步道上，地面常有一朵一朵的「荷包蛋」：白色花瓣，中央一叢黃雄蕊。林試所扇平工作站就是這樣形容大頭茶的花，還建議十二月來的遊客，看到落在地上的荷包蛋，順便抬頭認一認那棵樹。
小雪從2026年11月22日起算，到12月7日大雪為止。字面上有個「雪」，台灣平地卻不下。農業部的節氣資料寫得直接：台灣唯有高山地區才有降雪的可能。同一頁還記著一句老諺語，「小雪小到」，講的是烏魚群在小雪前後剛到台灣海峽。節氣名字取自北方，台灣這邊的物候得另外查。
玉山的初雪，平均在12月4日
氣象署的統計，玉山初雪的正常值範圍是11月8日至12月31日，平均值為12月4日。小雪這半個月，剛好壓在平均日附近。2025年11月20日玉山北峰氣象站在中午觀測到下雪，不久後停止，落地就融化，沒有積雪。條件是北方冷空氣南下，碰上華南高空的豐沛水氣，溫度和濕度剛好湊齊。平均日只是統計，雪下不下，看當天兩團空氣有沒有碰上。
楓葉等的是寒流
平地難得見楓紅，原因寫在楓香的植物介紹：秋季落葉前平地氣溫仍高，楓葉不易轉紅，要等第一次寒流來襲。山上的時程不同。公視2015年12月報導南投奧萬大的青楓先轉紅，園方當時說最精華的時間從11月中旬到12月底。大雪山2024年12月的消息則是，東北季風來臨，預計再紅一波。這兩則都是往年的物候紀錄，不是今年的賞楓預報。紅色是冷空氣送來的，樹自己沒有急著換裝。
落花、霧林與海邊那一叢
大頭茶的花期是10月到1月，林業保育署的樹種介紹列得很清楚。扇平工作站補了生態面：葉子是大紅紋鳳蝶、淡黑小灰蝶、端紅蝶幼蟲的食草，花是白紋鳳蝶、青斑蝶等的蜜源。冬天的步道上，一朵落花背後接著好幾種蝴蝶。
霧林裡，臺灣八角金盤花期從11月到2月，果期要等到3到5月。它是台灣特有種，開花的時候沒有掌聲，天氣冷，花也小。
海邊還有一種更少被惦記的植物，苦檻藍，又名苦藍盤。臺灣紅皮書列為國家瀕危。認識植物說它常見於嘉義、台南，是紅樹林的伴生植物之一，因人為開發頻繁，族群數量顯著減少；自由時報2015年的報導更直白，提到藥用價值引來的濫採，加上海岸不當開發，幾乎被破壞殆盡。小雪時節它不會開花，卻是這篇裡最需要被記得的一個名字。
看不見的越冬
愛玉子的主要產期在夏季8到10月，農業部說11到12月是雄果裡愛玉小蜂越冬的重要果期，也是次年授粉小蜂的種源；低溫與強風會影響小蜂出果與飛行。冬天結在樹上的雄果，是明年夏天那碗愛玉的種源庫。
另一頭是會惹麻煩的。二點葉蟎怕雨、喜乾燥，農業知識入口網寫連續乾旱易導致嚴重發生；冬季多躲在較低的葉背，溫度上升才往上蔓延，還能在雜草上越冬，所以冬季剪枝與除草時，該清的枝條和雜草要清掉。讓它爆發的是乾，不是冷。
田裡也錯開了。農業部記載，這時北部二期稻仍在收割，南部因為暖和，已經可以為一期稻作播種育苗。
12月7日大雪。前一個禮拜，扇平步道上的荷包蛋還會再落幾朵。
— 溫以君
參考來源：https://www.nownews.com/news/6756255
Xiaoxue Brings No Snow, Only Fried-Egg Flowers
On the Shanping trail in December, the ground is often dotted with “fried eggs”: white petals around a central tuft of yellow stamens. That is how the Shanping station of the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute describes the flower of the Formosan gordonia, and the station suggests that visitors in December, on spotting one on the ground, look up and get to know the tree.
Xiaoxue, the solar term that starts on 22 November 2026 and runs to Daxue on 7 December, has “snow” in its name, but Taiwan’s lowlands get none. The Ministry of Agriculture says it plainly: only the high mountains can see snowfall. The same page keeps an old saying, that mullet schools arrive in the Taiwan Strait around Xiaoxue. The name of the term comes from the north. Taiwan’s seasonal signs have to be looked up separately. For a quick background on the system, see the solar terms entry.
Yushan’s first snow averages 4 December
By the Central Weather Administration’s statistics, the normal range for Yushan’s first snow runs from 8 November to 31 December, with an average of 4 December. The Xiaoxue fortnight sits right around that average. On 20 November 2025, the Yushan North Peak station recorded snow around midday. It stopped soon after, melted on contact, and left no accumulation. The recipe is cold air moving south meeting moisture-rich air high above South China, with temperature and humidity lining up. The average is a statistic. Whether snow falls depends on whether the two air masses meet that day.
Maple leaves wait for the cold front
The reason lowland maples rarely turn red is in the plant profile of Formosan sweetgum: temperatures are still high before leaf fall, and the leaves turn only after the first cold wave. The mountains run on a different schedule. In a December 2015 news report from Aowanda in Nantou, the Formosan maple turned first, and the park said peak season runs from mid-November to the end of December. A December 2024 notice from Dasyueshan said another wave of red was expected once the northeast monsoon arrived. Both are records from past years, not a forecast for this season. The cold air delivers the color. The trees are in no hurry to change.
Fallen flowers, cloud forest, and a coastal shrub
The gordonia flowers from October to January, as the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s species page lists. The Shanping station adds the ecology, naming the butterflies in Chinese: it lists the leaves as larval food for 大紅紋鳳蝶 (a swallowtail), 淡黑小灰蝶 (a lycaenid) and 端紅蝶 (Hebomoia glaucippe formosana, a pierid), and the flowers as nectar for 白紋鳳蝶 (a swallowtail), 青斑蝶 (milkweed butterflies) and others. On a winter trail, one fallen flower sits at the start of a chain that feeds several butterflies.
In the cloud forest, Fatsia polycarpa flowers from November to February and fruits from March to May. It is endemic to Taiwan. Nobody applauds when it blooms. The weather is cold and the flowers are small.
On the coast, a shrub gets even less attention: Myoporum bontioides. The Red List of Taiwan classes it as nationally endangered. Kplant says it is common in Chiayi and Tainan as a mangrove associate, with numbers falling sharply under frequent human development. A 2015 Liberty Times report was blunter, citing overharvesting for its medicinal value plus inappropriate coastal development. It will not flower at Xiaoxue, but it is the name in this piece that most needs remembering.
Overwintering out of sight
Aiyu fig fruit is harvested mainly in the summer months of August to October. The Ministry of Agriculture says that November and December are the key fruiting period when the fig wasps overwinter inside male figs, and those wasps become the pollinator stock for the next year. Low temperatures and strong winds affect their emergence and flight. The male figs on the tree now are the seed bank for next summer’s jelly.
The troublemaker is on the other side of the ledger. The two-spotted spider mite dislikes rain and likes dry conditions, and the agricultural knowledge portal says continuous drought can cause severe outbreaks. In winter it sits mostly on the undersides of lower leaves, spreads upward when it warms, and can overwinter on weeds, so winter pruning and weeding should clear out unneeded branches and weeds. Dryness sets it off, not cold.
The fields are staggered too. The Ministry records that in northern Taiwan the second rice crop is still being harvested, while in the warmer south the first crop can already be sown and raised as seedlings.
Daxue arrives on 7 December. In the week before, a few more fried eggs will drop on the Shanping trail.
— 溫以君
Sources: https://www.nownews.com/news/6756255
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