THE BOOK OF THE PEONY 



as early flowering as either parent. P. L'Esper- 

 ance, introduced in 1909 by Lemoine, is similar 

 to P. moutan in foliage and habit, and has single 

 flowers eight inches across with eight or ten broad- 

 fringed petals, in colour soft yellow tinged with 

 buff and splashed at the base with red. P. La 

 Lorraine, sent out in 1912, also by Lemoine, has 

 a very full globular bloom, about six inches across, 

 regular in outline and of a buff tone passing to 

 golden yellow. It gained high honours in France 

 and was awarded the First Class Certificate — a 

 recognition of great merit — by the English Royal 

 Horticultural Society in 1912. It was one of the 

 most startling novelties introduced into England 

 in that year. This variety is not offered as yet 

 in this country. 



(6) The last to bloom and most glorious of 

 all the peonies is P. albiflora. It is this peony 

 to which reference is usually made to-day under 

 the generic term " peony." Nearly all of the five 

 hundred or more named double varieties of albi- 

 flora have been obtained by crossing P. albiflora 

 (mostly single) with P. officinalis, peregrina and 

 other species. This crossing which produced a 

 wide range of colour and form has been the means 



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