XANTHOEHIZA 



BUTTEBCVP OBDER 



P^ONIA 165 



X. apiifolia. — A pretty North American 

 bush 2-3 ft. high, with long-stalked pin- 

 nate leaves, composed of 3-5 more or 

 less ovate lance-shaped, cut, lobed, and 

 toothed leaflets. The small dark purple 

 and often polygamous flowers are pro- 

 duced in March and April in compound 

 racemes .before the leaves have developed. 

 The flowers consist of 5 petal-like sepals, 

 and 5 small clawed petals often broadened 

 at the top. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species will thrive in ordinary good garden 

 soil, and may be grown in the shrubbery 

 or border. New plants are chiefly ob- 

 tained by layering the shoots in summer 

 and autumn, or by detaching the suckers 

 and replanting in early autumn or spring. 

 Seeds are seldom or very rarely produced 

 in this country. 



P.SONIA (P^ONY, Peony, or Piony). 

 A genus of herbaceous plants with 

 perennial rootstocks, or branched, more 

 or less woody stems. Leaves alternate, 

 large, more or less finely cut or lobed. 

 Flowers beautiful, purple, white, rose &o. 

 Sepals 5, herbaceous, persistent. Petals 

 5-10, conspicuous, broad, not pitted. Oar- 

 pels 2-5, surrounded by a fleshy disc ; 

 follicles dehiscent; seeds large. 



Herbaceous Peonies 



CuUu/re. — Paeonies will grow freely in 

 most soils, but being gross feeders they 

 prefer good moist loam, which previous 

 to planting should be well trenched and 

 have a dressing of rotted cow manure. 

 Plants with 2 or 3 crowns eventually 

 make splendid specimens, and provided a 

 good mulch of manure is placed round the 

 crowns every winter, say in January or 

 February, the plants need not be disturbed 

 for several years and will produce glorious 

 masses of flower each year during May, 

 June, and July, according to locality. 

 The best time for planting is early autumn 

 — say in October — before growth has 

 quite ceased, and late spring, about April, 

 when growth has commenced. The 

 crowns should not be placed deeper than 

 1-2 in. below the surface, and the clumps 

 not less than 3 or 4 ft. apart. With a 

 view to having fine plants in the future, 

 the bloom-buds should be pinched off the 

 first season after planting, so that all the 

 work of the roots and leaves is devoted to 

 building up a strong healthy specimen. 



Pseonies if not ' coddled ' thrive in all 



sorts of positions, but the flowers last 

 longer in shaded situations, and the foliage 

 is more luxuriant than in spots folly 

 exposed to the sun. 



If the flowers are cut just as they are 

 about to open, they will retain their beauty 

 and freshness a long time in water. Mixed 

 with masses of their own foliage, they are 

 excellent for room decoration. If the 

 flowers, however, are cut after expanding, 

 they last only for a short time. 



Propagation. — The herbaceous 

 Paeonies are usually increased by care- 

 fully dividing the stocks in autumn or 

 spring. Seeds may also be sown as soon 

 as ripe, but they are a very long time in 

 germinating. As, however, it takes from 

 five to eight years to obtain a really good 

 flowering plant from seeds, this method of 

 propagation is rarely adopted, except by 

 large growers who make a speciality of 

 raising novelties. The single-flowered 

 varieties produce seeds in abundance, but 

 the double-flowered ones, which are much 

 more highly valued, only rarely produce 

 seeds. The best time to sow Paeony seeds 

 is when they are thoroughly ripe. Pre- 

 pared light loamy soil in a cold frame or 

 sheltered border is used, or the seeds may 

 be sown in pots or pans. 



P. albiflora (P. eduUs). — This well- 

 known species is a native of Siberia, 

 where its roots are sometimes eaten by 

 the Mongolian Tartars. It grows 2-3 ft. 

 high, and has leaves at first reddish, then 

 of a ruddy green, smooth, with oblong 

 acute leaflets 3-4 in. long, 1-1|^ in. broad. 

 The beautiful white or pink flowers, 

 which are bright red in bud, appear in 

 May and June, sometimes as many as 

 five on a slender stem, and emit a sweet 

 Eose-like fragrance. 



The best known varieties are fra- 

 grans, sinensis (Humiei), tatarica, uni- 

 fiora, vestaUs, and Whitleyi. 



Culture dc. as above. 



P. anomala (P. Fischeri ; P. inter- 

 media; P. sibirica). — It is probable that 

 the typical P. amomala is not in culti- 

 vation, most of the ciiltivated forms, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Lynch of the Botanic 

 Gardens, Cambridge, being derived from 

 a variety called insignis. It is a native 

 of N. Europe, Siberia &c., and has large 

 spindle-shaped roots from which arise 

 stems 2-3 ft. high. Leaves 10-12, cut 

 into numerous confluent lance-shaped 

 acute segments 1^-2 in. long, the lower 



