XXVIII 



ON PEONIES 



THE modern Paeony may on no account be omitted 

 from a list of popular garden flowers, for during recent 

 years it has advanced by leaps and bounds. Visitors to 

 the great flower shows gaze in wonder at the magnificent 

 flowers which represent the florists' latest achievements 

 in Paeony development flowers almost as large as huge 

 show Chrysanthemums, brilliantly coloured, and in the 

 case of many varieties, richly scented. 



A grand old plant this Paeony, whether we consider 

 it as a shrub or a herb. We have sections of both 

 types, and the herbaceous Paeony is the older, so far 

 as British gardens are concerned. The modern leaf- 

 losing Paeony has sprung from two species, the white 

 albiflora and the red officinalis, and botanists tell us 

 that both were introduced in 1548 ; whereas Moutan, 

 the shrubby Paeony, did not arrive until 1789. The 

 latter is illustrated in the Botanical Magazine, t. 1154. 



With some writers the typical Paeony is corallina, a 

 red herbaceous species, stated to be a native of England. 

 Fox records it as found on May 23rd at Steep Holmes, 

 Severn, and states that it produces red, pink, or white 

 flowers. It is probable that this was the Paeony of the 

 poets if we allow them to have named a Paeony at 

 all. It is not every student who will admit that Shake- 

 speare had the Paeony in mind when he puts into the 



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