Tab. 5719. 

 P^ONIA Emodi. 



Himalayan Peony. 



Nat. Ord. Eanuncula.ce j..— Polyjjtobia Polygyria. 



Gen. Char. Sepala 5, herbacea, persistentia. Petala 5-10, omnpjcua, 

 lata, efoveolata. Carpella 1-5, multiovulata, disco carnoso cmcta, maturi- 

 tate coriacea, folliculatim dehisccntia. Semina magna, albumme carnoso. 

 — Herbxe, radice caudiciformi perennes, v. caules ramosipus minus lir/nosi. 

 Folia alterna, ampla, pinnatim dissecta v. composita. 1 lores specwsi, pn>- 

 purei albi v. rubri. 



P^onia Emodi; herbacea, foliis ternatim sectis ute jf^^?^^" 

 dibus lucidiB, floribus subpaniculatis albis, carpello sohtano tomento 8 o. 



Pjeonia Einodi. Wall. Cat. n. 4727. Boyle, III. p. 57. 



P. officinalis. Rook.f. et Thorns. Fl. Indica,p. 60. 



The herbaceous Peonies comprehend a group of variable 

 plants, about whose specific distinctions naturalists are little 

 likely to be of one mind. In the Herbarium they are ^dis- 

 tinguishable specifically; in the garden a certain number 

 differ, apparently permanently, by characters of most unequal 

 value In the 'Flora Indica' Dr. Thomson and I referred 

 the Himalayan Peonies to forms of P. officimH-^ conclu- 

 sion little acceptable to some botanists, and not at al to 

 gardeners. On reviewing the subject apropos to he present 

 plant, I see no reason to alter my opinion that, ^compared 

 with he species of many other genera, the Himalayan jmes 

 may well be referred to forms or varieties of the European 

 but as they differ greatly in habit, colour, and tho e qua hues 

 that render them worthy of cultivation as weU J* m ^some 

 other points of a little more moment, I here keep one atany 

 rate distinct This is the P. Emodi of Walhch, a — 

 temperate Himalayan plant from Kumaon to Kas^w^ 

 is easily recognized by its slender habit, white^ "^mdfld 

 flowers and solitary tomentose carpel; in f 1 ^^)^ 

 of a solitary tomentose carpel, it differ. ; from * <*^ 

 Willd. (Ta^Nostr. 1756), of Siberia and |^ ^mentose 

 carpel alone from a Kashmir one-carpelled plant, hitherto not 



.ii i,y 1st, 1868. 



