RANUNCULACEAE 53 



Paeonies, only wants rich soil and neglect. Witt- 

 maniana, however, differs from the others in sometimes 

 dying off inexplicably. WMtleyi major is the loveliest 

 herbaceous plant I know, as Moutan is the finest — well, 

 shrub, one must call it. Of course I mean the single WMt- 

 leyi; the double is beautiful, but of no account in the 

 rock-garden. The single Whitleyi has flowers like a 

 huge water-lily of pure white silk, and the heart of it is a 

 tassel of fine gold. No one ever imagined a lovelier thing. 



As for the wild red Paeonies, I do not think very many 

 of them are worth troubling about. There are so many 

 single hybrids now ; I have just established, in their 

 second year, a big batch of single herbaceous Paeonies 

 from Japan, and I expect to see marvels this year. The 

 species, lobata, Russi, peregrina, officinalis corallhia (who 

 lives on the Steep Holmes Islet in the Severn Sea, 

 among the rocks, but basely suspected by some of being 

 an alien) tend to be leafy in growth, small in flower, and 

 with a tiresome shade of lilac or magenta in their reds. 

 You have to be careful about this always in buying 

 Paeonies. Only buy by sight, if possible. Far different 

 is it with the white species. The Japanese obovata, 

 whose pearl-white goblets I remember above Shoji, is a 

 jewel quite outside any condemnation ; as are albiflora 

 and edulls and the precious Emodi ; while there is even 

 a certain rare variety of the magenta lobata called ' Sun- 

 beam,' which has flowers of a splendid luminous scarlet. 



As for the Yellow Tree-Paeony — Paeonia lutea — well, 

 I am waiting till that drops a little in price. Besides, 

 though thrillingly exciting, I don't gather that lutea 

 compares in beauty with Moutan or albiflora. Its flower 

 seems rather small for the leaf, and recalls to me a bloom 

 of Nwphar advena stuck fraudulently on a Paeony-plant. 

 As for culture, all the species are alike : give them deep 

 soil, a more or less shady place, and let them alone. 



