284 On the herbaceous PcBonies, 



except the tulip, no other plants of any great ornament are in 

 bloom. In the numerous species and varieties are displayed a 

 great variety of colors, from pure white, through the intermedi- 

 ate shades of blush, rosy, red, &c., tb deep purple, with both 

 single and double flowers. Combining these with a perfect har- 

 diness of constitution, a free habit of blooming, and of the 

 most simple cultivation, they present claims to the floricul- 

 turist which few other plants can be said to possess. 



The old double red paeony is so common, that the family, of 

 which it may be said to be one of the best, is at once familiar to 

 every reader: all the double ones, though not shaped precisely 

 like this, have a similar habit and formation; the single species 

 and varieties have from six to ten petals, and somewhat resem- 

 ble a single poppy, with the exception of the stigmas, which 

 are three and upwards in number, as in the double ones: some 

 of these latter are very showy, while others are scarcely worth 

 a place in a garden, unless the object is to fill up a shrubbery in 

 a large garden, or to grow in a shady situation, in which they 

 flourish much better than most other plants. They are then de- 

 sirable, and their great abundance of flowers in part make up the 

 loss of their individual beauty. 



The first species introduced to England was the oflicinalis, 

 the parent of the common double-red; it is a native of Switzer- 

 land and other parts of Europe, and also of China and Japan, 

 and was known as early as 1548. At what time, however, the 

 double variety appeared, there is no accurate data; but it was 

 the first double one known in England. Sometime after it became 

 generally cultivated, the albiflora, and several varieties of great 

 beauty raised from it, together with many others, were introduced. 

 Within a very few years some four or five varieties have been 

 imported from China, of surpassing splendor; these are not 

 yet found in many collections, but their rapidity of increase 

 will soon place them in the hands of all desirous of procuring 

 them. 



But few collections in this country yet embrace only a limited 

 number of sorts, and these confined to particular ones; but the 

 greater part of all those yet known have flowered with us the past 

 spring, and we took the opportunity to make such notes and obser- 

 vations as will enable us to give a very short description of all that 

 displayed their blossoms. The names under which we received 

 them are, we believe, generally correct; but whether entirely so 

 or not we cannot now state; we therefore give those by which 

 they are known to us. 



Pffionia officinalis. — This species has large, single, crimson 

 flowers, with yellow stamens; its habit of growth is of the mid- 

 dle size, the branches spreading. The blossoms are produced 



