WILD PEONY (Poeonia Brownii, Dougl.). This plant, a foot 

 or so high, is sure to attract the attention of the observant 

 long before blooming because of its pale, glaucous, rather 

 fleshy, much divided leaves, mostly basal, that appear here 

 and there upon the brushy hillsides in midwinter, from South- 

 ern California to Washington and east to Utah. The large 

 solitary flowers, an inch or so in diameter, may be found 

 from February until July (according to situation), and are a 

 deep, sometimes almost black crimson, globular in form at first, 

 but later expand into the shape of a cup with 5 or 6 concave, 

 leather-like petals, backed by as many greenish-purple sepals. 

 Stamens very numerous, clustered around 2 to 5 bottle-like 

 pistils that eventually develop into conspicuous green pods, 

 which serve to identify the plant long after flowering. 



Early rains sometimes bring the flowers of the Wild Peony 

 into bloom in late December, whence doubtless the name 

 Christmas Rose, which it bears in some neighborhoods, al- 

 though it is a true relative of the Christmas Rose of Europe 

 and old fashioned American gardens Helleborus niger. 



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