THE BOOK OF THE PEONY 



history and wider cultivation in the Orient than 

 the herbaceous kinds : in Europe and America the 

 reverse is the case. 



The Tree Peony in China 



In the Sixth Century, a.d., the Chinese dis- 

 tinguished two kinds of peonies — the Mow Tan,^ 

 or improved kind, the present P. moutan, and 

 the Sho Yo, or common kind, the ancestors or 

 one of the ancestors of the present P. albiflora. 

 The Mow Tans, the more beautiful of the two, 

 were called Hwa Wang — The King of Flowers 

 — and the Sho Yo were called Hwa Leang — The 

 Ministers of the King. 



A Chinese author, writing in 536 a.d., says 

 that the original native countiy of the moutan 

 was the eastern part of the province of Sze-Chuan 

 and the adjacent southern part of the province 

 of Shen-Si (western China — centre — about the 

 latitude of South Carolina) . In 656, this state- 



* Mow Tan means " male scarlet flower." It was 

 so called " because of its propagation being principally 

 effected by dividing the root and because the scarlet 

 flower was considered the principal one." The moutan 

 was also known as Muh Sho Yo — " tree-like most 

 beautiful." 



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