REMARKS ON THE MOUTAX PjEONY. 249 



in the province of Hou-Kouang, from whence they are now supplied 

 to the gardens of Pekin, and other parts of the Empire. They are 

 stated to have received various names, as Hoa-ouang, or King of 

 Flowers, Pe-leang-kin, or Hundred ounces of Gold (from their value), 

 and Mou-chao-yao, or the Tree Paeony, to distinguish them from the 

 Herbaceous Paeonies. It is represented that Moutans have been cul- 

 tivated frequently of various heights, from very dwarf plants, to trees 

 of twenty-four feet high, and that different varieties have existed, 

 which produced their flowers at different seasons, some in winter, and 

 some in autumn ; but the spring flowering varieties are those now in 

 cultivation. These are said to be very numerous, with flowers of 

 various degrees of fullness, from semi-double to very double, and of 

 the following colours, " rouge, violet, pourpre, amaranthe, jaune, 

 blanc, noir, et bleu" in great variety. Some are represented to pos- 

 sess considerable fragrance. Accounts of the way of cultivating the 

 Moutans in China are also given ; they appear lo be propagated from 

 seed, and by other modes of increase which will be noticed hereafter. 

 I do not place much reliance on the correctness of the details in this 

 memoir, which extends to several pages ; and I am incredulous, not 

 only as to some of the colours of the flowers, which are said to exist, 

 but also as to the extent in number of the varieties. 



The provinces and places above mentioned, are in the northern 

 and central parts of the Chinese Empire, and the habits of the Mou- 

 tan evidently exhibit an high mountainous, or alpine origin, subject 

 to being buried under snow during the winter. Thev make strong 

 shoots early in spring, and break rapidly into foliage, and blossom. 



In the description of China, published by Duhalde, in 1753, verv 

 little notice is taken of the Moutans ; they are described under the 

 general name of Pivoines, as being of different colours, and some of 

 them fragrant. A brief notice of the Moutans in the gardens at 

 Canton, will be found in Dr. Abel's account of Lord Amhert's Em- 

 bassy to Pekin, in 1816 ; but it contains no information respecting 

 them which is not herein slated. They are not mentioned, as far as 

 I have discovered, in accounts of other travellers in China. 



It must be concluded that the Moulans were transferred from 

 China to Japan, where they are cultivated ; but they do not appear, 

 however, to have been introduced in much variety into the latter 

 country. Kaempfer, in the fifth fasciculus of his Amaenitales Exotica-, 

 printed in 1712, describes the plants of Japan, aud (p. 862) among them 

 the Botan, as a species ; but does not mention any varieties. He dis- 

 tinguishes it by its woody stem from an Herbaceous Paeony called 

 Saku Jaku, ol which he names three varieties. Thnif1>erg, in bis 



