THE TREE PEONY 



of P. moutan, var. papavaracea, was imported 

 from England by William Lathe of Cambridge- 

 port — probably a wise and public-spirited move, 

 for if ever a place (from its present appearance) 

 needed brightening up it must have been Cam- 

 bridgeport.^ 



In 1828 the catalogue of John Bartram hsts 

 the same variety, adding " poppy flowered tree 

 pseony," but without price, and " P. moutan rosea, 

 rose coloured," at five dollars. William Prince's 

 catalogue for the following year for the Linnaean 

 Botanic Garden at Flushing, Long Island, sets 

 out these varieties and also P. moutan Banksi 

 " Chinese purple tree pteony with magnificent 

 fragrant flowers," all at five dollars apiece. So 

 even in the days when the high cost of living was 

 not a vital issue tree peonies were not an inex- 

 pensive hobby. 



In 1836 Colonel Perkins of Brookline, Massa- 

 chusetts, imported direct from China a tree peony, 

 which was thought to have been P. moutan Raw- 



^ It is an historical fact that this peony was later 

 moved from Cambridgeport to the place of J. P. Gushing, 

 Watertown, Mass. 



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