THE BOOK OF THE PEONY 



with their breath-taking loveliness: even those 

 who know well all the fascinations of the flower 

 are stirred by it to new wonder and delight each 

 recurring year. 



Lest I be thought too loud in my praises of 

 the peony, I will quote from one of many enthusi- 

 astic authorities — a book, too, which is not essen- 

 tially a horticultural work. No one, I venture, 

 will consider the Encyclopaedia Britannica given 

 to exaggeration in its statements, yet this is what 

 it says about the peony : 



" PiEONY (botanically Paeonia; Nat. ord. Ranuncula- 

 cese q. v.), a genus of plants remarkiable for their large 

 and gorgeous flowers. There are two distinct sorts, 

 one of the strong-growing herbaceous kind, with fleshy 

 roots and annual stems, derived mainly from Pseonia 

 albiflora and P. officinalis ; the other, called the tree 

 peony, stiff*-growing plants with half-woody permanent 

 stems, which have sprung from the Chinese P. moutan. 



" The herbaceous pgeonies usually grow from 2 to 3 

 ft. in height, and have large, much-divided leaves, and 

 ample flowers of varied and attractive colors, and of a 

 globular form in the double varieties, which are those 

 most prized in gardens. They usually blossom, in May 

 and June, and as ornaments for large beds in pleas- 

 ure grounds, and for the front parts of shrubberies, 

 few flowers equal them in gorgeous effect. 



" The older varieties of P. albiflora include Candida, 

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