30 
* PAONÍA Brownii. 
Douglas Californian Peony. 
POLYANDRIA DI-PENTAGYNIA. 
Nat. ord. RANUNCULACE. 
PZONIA. Botanical Register, vol. |. fol. 42. 
$ OngpIa. 
P. Brownii ; herbacea, carpellis 5 glaberrimis erectis, foliis utrinque glabris bi- 
ternatis, foliolis ternatim divisis pinnatifidisve laciniatis, sepalis subrotundis 
convexis petalis subrotundis coriaceis longioribus. 
P. Brownii. Douglas in Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer. 27. Torrey and Gray Flora 
of North America, 1. 41. 
Petala circiter sex, coriacea, subrotunda, sanguinea, margine lutea, 
sepala breviora. Discus carnosus, elevatus, lobatus,  Folliculi 5, quorum 
pars tantum perfecta, coriacea, rugosa, levia, obovata. Testa seminum 
sicca, nec succulenta. 
This extremely rare and very curious plant was intro- 
duced several years ago by the Horticultural Society, to 
which it was sent by Mr. Douglas. It is a singular instance 
of a genus hitherto exclusively Asiatic or European, appear- 
ing in the New World under a form different from its ordi- 
nary state, and yet as it seems too similar to be separated. 
Since the discovery of this by Douglas, a second species has 
been found in Upper California by Nuttall. The two form 
a section of Pzonia, characterized by short leathery petals, 
a lobed fleshy disk, and a dry not succulent seed coat. 
Douglas found it near the limits of perpetual snow, on 
the subalpine range of Mount Hood in North West America ; 
according to Torrey and Gray it was met with by Nuttall 
* See Botanical Register, fol. 1208. 
June, 1839. M 
