PyEONV. SI 



caused the death of Paeon. Pluto, however, re- 

 taining a grateful sense of his service, changed 

 him into the flower, which ever after bore his 

 name, except amongst the Italians and Spaniards 

 of modern days, who, in defiance of antiquity, 

 have presumed to name it Mountain-Rose, be- 

 cause it grows naturally in the mountainous parts 

 of their countries, the Italian name being Rosa de.* 

 montl, and the Spanish, Rosa del yiioide. 



The Hortus Kewensis notices ten distinct spe- 

 cies of Paeonies, besides varieties, and the Dutch 

 catalogues of the present day enumerate no less 

 than twenty-three different species and varieties 

 of this grand flower. 



England claims one species, coralUna, entire- 

 leaved, as a native of her soil, and which Gerard 

 tells us, grew wild in his day on a rabbit warren, 

 in the parish of Southfleet, in Kent. This was 

 called the male Pseony, and is the kind the root 

 of which has been so highly extolled in medical 

 works. 



The superb Double Crimson Pseony of our 

 gardens, officinalis, is a native of the mountains 

 of Switzerland, as also of the Alps, from whence 

 it has long been brought to decorate our par- 

 terres, as it is mentioned by our oldest writers 

 on plants. 



Gerard observes, in his time, that we had not 



Vol. II. G 



