Some Remarks on the Tree Pceony. 337 



ton^s Horticultural Register, that he selected a yellow with two 

 other varieties, to bring out with him ; but we find no further ac- 

 count of it. 



The London Horticultural Society, under the direction of 

 Capt. Reeves, had six drawings executed in China, which are 

 to be depended on for their accuracy. Two are referable to the 

 ;;apaveracea and p. BanksiVe. The third is a semi-double white, 

 of no great beauty: the fourth a double purple, similar to the one 

 above-named: the fifth a small purplish red, with pale edges to 

 the petals: the sixth a very double pale red, with small inner 

 petals. The society also possesses two other paintings, copied 

 from Chinese originals in the collection of Lady Banks, which 

 are supposed correct; one is a deep rich red, the other a white 

 flower tinted with green. In a work entitled JMemoires sur les 

 Chinois, there are several pages devoted to the history, native 

 habitats, and other particulars respecting these plants. From these, 

 which INIr. Sabine partly embraces in his account, we learn that 

 they are of great antiquity in gardens in the north of China, and 

 supposed to have originally been found growing wild on the 

 mountains in the province of Ho-nan. They were subsequently 

 cultivated in the imperial gardens of Kai-fong-fou, in Ho-nan; 

 but they flourish better in the province of Hou-Kouang, from 

 whence they are sent to Pekin, Canton, and other parts of the 

 empire. Mr. Main, in the paper before alluded to, states that 

 they are natives of, and much cultivated in, the province of Nan- 

 kin. It is also represented that the Chinese'have plants of va- 

 rious heights, from very dwarf ones to those of twenty or more 

 feet high, and that they produce their flowers at different seasons; 

 some in winter and others in autumn. This account is undoubt- 

 edly true, in regard to the native locality of the plants; as their 

 habits would lead us to suppose that they were of Alpine origin, 

 subject to being buried in deep snows during winter, and in spring 

 breaking into foliage rapidly, and making strong short shoots in 

 the early part of the season. Some writers, among whom are 

 Thunberg and Loureiro, referred all the paeonies which they saw 

 to the P. officinalis. From China they were introduced to 

 Japan, where they are extensively cultivated. 



The introduction of the plants to England, from China, is said 

 to be attended with considerable difficulty; the length of the 

 voyage being so great, that nearly all the plants die on the way. 

 But we are inclined to tliink that the loss of the plants is more to 

 be attributed to the state they are in, when sent from China, and 

 the mode of packing, than from the length of the voyage. Mr. 

 Main states that the plants are brought to Canton from the prov- 

 ince of Nankin, and, when done flowering, for the most part 

 thrown away. He also states, that he turned some out of the 

 pots which had just arrived, and found them " most barbarously 



VOL. n. — NO. IX. 43 



