ORD. XXVI, Multisilique. 485 
PHONIA OFFICINALIS. COMMON PEONY. 
Sa a ee ee 
SYNONYMA. Pexonia. Pharm. Dale. 175. Alston. i. 485. 
Lewis. 470. Edinb. New Disp. 246. Murray. iti. 37. Bergius. 
477. Pzonia folio nigricante splendido, que mas—et. Paonia 
foemina, &c. Bauvh. Bin. 323. Ger. Emac.980. Park. Theat. 
1381. + Ray. Hist. 693. Pzonia foliis lobatis ex ovate- 
Janceolatis. Hall. Helv. Miller. Dict. Ic. Mill. Illust. 
Polyandria Digynia. Lin. Gen. Plant. 678. 
Gen. Ch. Cat. 5-phyllus. Petala 5. Styli0. Caps. polysperme. - 
Sp. Ch. P. foliolis oblongis. 
ROOT perennial, large, knobby, externally brown, internally 
white, compact. Stalks two feet in height, thick, smooth, suc- 
culent. branched. Leaves pinnated, or cut into lobes, which are 
oblong, few, terminated by an odd one. Flowers large, terminal, 
‘solitary, red. Calyx composed of five unequal ovate coneave 
leaves. Corolla naturally consisting of five large petals, which 
are roundish and concave. Filaments about thirty, short, slender, 
supporting oblong quadrangular anthere. Germina two, ovate, 
erect, hairy. Styles none. Stigmata hooked. Capsules two, | 
hairy, oblong, inclining outwardly, single-celled, single-valved, 
and containing numerous small seeds. | 
Peony is a native of Switzerland: it has been cultivated in 
Britain since the time of Turner, and is now a common plant in 
the English gardens, where it flowers in May and June. 
This plant has long been considered as a powerful medicine; 
and, till the late revision of the Pharmacopeeia by the London 
No. 41.—vou., 3, 6c 
