278 Account of double Herbaceous Paeonies. 



of three feet, having two or three buds on each flowering 

 stem. The buds and the external petals when open, are 

 tinged with red, so as to give them an appearance of flesh 

 colour, whilst the internal petals, which are narrower than 

 the others, are of a sulphurous yellow, going off nearly 

 white; some few of them (not more than two or three) 

 being marked on the top with a bright red stain ; the ger- 

 mens are also tipped with a red stigma, which is perceptible 

 when the flower happens not to be very double. The scent 

 in this as well as in the single ones of the species is strong, 

 being thought by many to resemble that of Elder flowers. 

 In the Botanist's Repository, Vol. x, plate 612, a figure of 

 this plant was given on its first appearance in this country. 

 Of the correctness of the representation I cannot speak 

 favourably, and in the account of the plant which accompa- 

 nies the plate, the statement that it was raised from seeds by 

 Mr. Whitley is erroneous. 



The double Sweet-scented Chinese P&ony, ( P. albifiora 

 fragransj was introduced from China by Sir Joseph Banks 

 in 1805, and the plant has since been cultivated in the 

 Royal Gardens at Kew. By many who are ignorant of the 

 existence of the two plants, this has been confounded with 

 the preceding; like that, it rises from the ground late in 

 the spring, but is more upright in its growth, and of a more 

 slender habit, with narrower leaves, bearing its flowers in 

 cymes of two or three buds each, though sometimes its 

 footstalks are uniflorus. The flower is of a delicate rose 

 colour ; the outside petals are large, the inside ones smaller, 

 being very peculiar in their formation, for those which are 

 situated nearest the natural petals are the shortest, whilst 



