13. 



P.EONIA MOUTAN. 



Shrubby Pceony. 



POLYANDRIA^ DiGYNIA. 



Class 13. Order 2. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



(Vide Paonia officinalis rubra. PI, 11.) 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Stem woody, perennial. Leaflets oblong, ovate, glaucous, and some- 

 what hairy beneath ; the terminal one three-lobed. Germens nu- 

 merous, distinct. 



Branches shrubby and numerous, forming a handsome bush 

 of the height of from six to ten feet. Leaves on long stalks, 

 alternate, spreading, and deciduous; leaflets ternate in an 

 opposite direction, lobed, veined, and glaucous underneath; 

 the terminal leaflets three-lobed. Leaf-buds scaly, of a fine 

 pink colour. Flowers terminating the branches, solitary, from 

 five to eight or even ten inches in diameter, always double, 

 composed of many jagged rose-coloured petals : the stamens 

 appear partially in the centre of the flower ; anthers yellow ; 

 germs uncertain in their appearance. The flower possesses a 

 rather sickly odour. 



Among the Chinese, a doubt exists concerning the origin of 

 this magnificent shrub : some writers suppose it to have been 

 obtained from the common Paeony by a particular process of 

 culture ; others affirm, with more probability, that it was dis- 

 covered growing in the mountains of Northern China ; that 

 after its introduction into the southern provinces it became a 

 general favourite among the florists, and that numerous va- 

 rieties were consequently raised. So much prized were some 

 of these, that they sold in China for a hundred ounces of gold. 



