P.EDERIA 



P.EOXIA 



2431 



"usually grown as a stove and greenhouse climber, but 

 it is hardier than is generally supposed. It is rather an 

 attractive-looking but not free-blooming vine. The 

 leaves, or any part of the plant, when bruised emit a 

 most offensive odor. Cuttings should be put in any 

 time after the growths are matured." 



P. WUsonii, Hesse. A strong climber from China, with hairy 

 branches: Ivs. long-petiolate, ovate-lanceolate, to 6 in. long: fls. 

 cream-white with a purple-red eye, less than }^a\.. across, in a clus- 

 ter somewhat like tnat of the lilac; corolla-tube J$in. long. This 

 species stood two winters at the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, and 

 blossomed, but was finally winter-killed. L H B 



2717. Basket-packed celery, for home trade. 



PyEDEROTA (from p&deros, a name applied by the 

 ancients to a species of Acanthus). Scrophidariaeex. 

 Hardy perennial herbs suitable for garden use: low, 

 many-stemmed, puberulent or pilose, with opposite 

 serrate or cut Ivs. and dense terminal spikes: fls. short- 

 pedicelled, solitary in the axils of small bracts; calyx 

 5-parted, the segms. narrow; corolla with a cylindrical 

 tube and a sub-2-lobed limb, the lobes erect or erect- 

 spreading; stamens 2, affixed to the tube: caps, acute, 

 turgid. About 5 species, Eu. and the Orient in the 

 mountains. By some considered a section of Veronica. 

 The following species, which though perennial are 

 usually treated as annuals, require a dry situation and 

 light sandy soil. Prop, by seed. P. Ageria, Linn. Plant 

 puberuloiis. 6-12 in. high: Ivs. all acute, the lower 

 ovate, middle ones 1}^ in. long, almost 1 in. broad, the 

 upper longer and narrower-lanceolate, cut-serrate: fls. 

 yellow, in short compact spikes; corolla nearly Jiin. 

 long with erect segms. May. Eu. P. Bonarota, T^irin. 

 Plant pilose. 4-6 in. high: lower Ivs. orbiculate; upper 

 Ivs. ovate or lanceolate, serrate or cut: fls. blue, in 

 compact globose or oblong spikes which are 1-1% in. 

 long; corolla ^in. long with somewhat spreading 

 segms. May. Eu. 



(after the mythical physician Paeon). 

 Ranunculac(x . PEONY. PIXXY. P.EONY. Specially 

 attractive and important flower-garden perennials, 

 prized for the showy spring and early summer bloom. 

 Herbaceous or woody: roots thickened to form 

 upright rootstocks: Ivs. large, alternate, pinnately com- 

 pound or dissected, mostly ternate: fls. terminal and 

 mostly solitary, but sometimes several, a very few 

 species yellow, but mostly red, purple or white; sepals 5, 

 persistent: petals conspicuous, broad, 5-10, but doub- 

 ling may take place in any species: stamens numerous: 

 carpels 2-5 on a fleshy disk, becoming dehiscent; fol- 

 licles bearing the indurated more or less conspicuous 

 style; seeds large, fleshy. Species about 25, Eu. and 

 A>ia, and one small-fld. species (P. Brownii) in Calif. 

 and northward. Peonies are among the dozen common- 

 est and best hardy herbaceous perennials. By varia- 

 tion and hybridization, the garden forms are now very 

 many. A botanical monograph by E. Huth, is in 



Engler's Jahrbucher, Vol. 14 (1891). An account by 

 Baker, from which much of the recent botanical char- 

 acterization is drawn, appears in G.C. II. 21, pp. 732, 

 779, 828, and Vol. 22, p. 9 (1884). See also R. Lynch, 

 Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. 12:428 (1890). According to 

 Peter Barr, even.- species mentioned in Index Kewensis 

 had been intro. to cult . in Eu. except P. obovata, a native 

 of Manchuria; this species, once intro. but long ago 

 lost, has very recently been brought again into horti- 

 cultural notice. 



It is customary to divide the genus into two groups, 

 one including the herbaceous species and the other 

 (chiefly P. suffrulicosa or P. Moulan) comprising the 

 woody kinds. This division is not invariable as the 

 plants grow under cultivation, and to the horticulturist 

 who wishes to distinguish the stem-species it is con- 

 fusing. It may be better from the modern gardener's 

 point of view to make the primary divisions on color 

 of the flowers, into the red-white species and the yellow 

 species. The yellow-flowered species have played a 

 small part in the evolution of the cultivated forms, 

 although P. lutea is now beginning to contribute a 

 strain, and other yellow species are very promising. 

 The species are difficult to distinguish, even in unmodi- 

 fied forms; and the garden forms are very puzzling to 

 a systematic botanist. The confusion is increased by 

 the use of Latin names for many of the garden varieties. 

 Xo two systematists could be expected to agree on the 

 limits and nomenclature of species. The following 

 descriptive account is a compromise arrangement of 

 the species. 



As with most important genera of a considerable 

 number of members, only a few species are in general 

 cultivation and the others are known mostly only to 

 amateurs and collectors. From the cultural point of 

 view, there are two groups of peonies, the shrubby 

 or "tree" peonies, and the herbaceous peonies. The 

 former are the product of P. suffruticosa, although the 

 woody section has been, extended lately by the addition 

 of P. Delavayi and P. lutea. The Moutans are low 

 shrubs, branching near the ground and bearing many 

 large flowers in shades of red and running to white and 

 even yellowish. This group is now much eclipsed by 

 the popularity of the herbaceous kinds, which bloom 



2718. Paper packages or cartons for sweet corn, and other vege- 

 tables supplied direct to consumer. 



each year on shoots that arise from the crown, the 

 plant dying completely to the ground on the approach 

 of winter. These garden forms are probably the issue of 

 different species, as P. officinalis of Europe and P. 

 aOnflora of Siberia and the far East. The set derived 

 most directly from the former species are mostly earlier- 

 flowering than those from P. albiflora. The botanical 

 parentage of the horticultural herbaceous peonies needs 



