MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 4b 



and if the fact be so, Sir Abraham Hume's was the parent of the whole stock 

 now in Europe. The flowers in some seasons, and especially of late years, have 

 been semi-double; when the plant was younger they were more single, but 

 seldom had so few as five petals; their expansion is about twelve inches, some- 

 times more ; the petals are very large and broad ; they spread widely out, but 

 are not leflexed ; they are white, with a deep purple spot on the lower part of 

 each petal ; the spots are rayed, in 1 nes about an inch and a half long, from 

 the centre, forming a brilliant and rich star in the middle of the flower ; the 

 edges of the petals are a little jagged. The scent of the blossom is not pleasant, 

 but it cannot be said to resemble that of Elder, which I have heard observed ; it 

 is more like that of a Puppy. 



Peeonia Moutan Baiiksii. — This was introduced to the Royal Gardens at Kew, 

 in 1789, and was the first of the species that was brought to Europe; it blos- 

 somed at Kew for the first time in the year 1793. The flowers are usually quite 

 double, and spreading, with an expansion of eight or nine inches ; sometimes 

 they are so full as to force the calyx to turn back on the peduncle, and then the 

 outer parts of the flower also turn downwards ; but both this, and probably all 

 the Moutans, vary as to the number of petals they produce, according to the soil 

 they are placed in, and the degree of establishment in that soil. Sometimes the 

 Banksii produces flowers totally destitute of petals at all, and many are inter- 

 mediate between that state and the fullest flower. The petals are slightly tinged 

 with blush, becoming nearly white at the edges, and are marked at the base 

 with reddish pink ; this darker colour sometimes regularly mixes with the 

 paler parts of the petals, and sometimes has a slight appearance of running 

 into it in rays, or featherings. The petals gradually diminish in size as they 

 approach the centre of the flower, and have there more of the reddish pink 

 colour diffused over them ; the edges of the internal petals are also more jagged 

 or broken. The scent of the flower is very different at different periods, and 

 perhaps also on different plants ; in some it is far from disagreeable, in others 

 strong and heavy. The distinction between the foliage of this variety and the 

 Rosea, is in the red colour of the petioles, and the darker green of the folioles ; 

 from the Papaveracea its leaves are less distinguishable ; they are, however, 

 under similar circumstances, smaller; they are also coarser, and more obtuse in 

 their terminations, and more rugose ill their surface. 



Peeonia Moulait Humci. — The flowers of this variety are double, and have a 

 bunch of petals aiising from the middle of the flower of a reddish colour. It is 

 a pretty variety. 



Pceonia Moutan Rosea Semiplena. — The first plant of this variety is said to 

 have been introduced bv the late Right Hon. Charles Greville about the year 

 1794, and it blossomed subsequently in his garden at Paddington. The flowers 

 are semi-double, cupped, not opening very widely ; if fully open, they would 

 have an expansion of from six to eight inches; the petals are large, of a fine 

 deep pink, very slightly darker at their base, but not strikingly so, as in the 

 other varieties before described ; they are larger than those of the Banksii, and 

 have a very satiny appearance ; their margins are crisped, and occasionally 

 notched in the centre. The flower has a delicate rose-like scent, which abates 

 after it has been some time open. The shoots of this variety, when they break 

 out in the spring, have a reddish hue, but the advanced foliage does not retain 

 the tinge. 



Pceonia Moutan Rosea Plena. — A sub-variety of the preceding, producing very 

 double flowers, with similar foliage, was obtained from China in 1795. The 

 flowers are as large as those of the Banksii, of an uniform rich pink, though the 

 edges of the petals become paler after a time. The exterior petals are large and 

 broad, notched deeply in the centre, and with crisped margins; the interior 

 petals are long and narrow, much jagged at the edges, very numerous, and they 

 rise in the middle of the flower to a considerable height. The scent is agree- 

 able, but not so fine as in the semi-double variety. Semi-double flowers are 

 often observable on the plant, at the same time that others are quite double. 



Pceonui Moutan Cornea Plena. — The blossoms are large, very double, with a 

 great resemblance in character and appearance to those of Banksii, except that 

 they are less, more compact, and that they are without the central elongated 

 petals, which sometimes in that variety appear to rise from amongst the germens. 



