By Joseph Sabine, Esq. 467 



the ships, the latest of which usually sails in February, or 

 early in March, so that those English gentlemen who attend 

 to plants there, have not the opportunity of seeing the dif- 

 ferent varieties in flower ; and the knowledge of them is con- 

 sequently confined to the native residents of Canton. This 

 circumstance will account for the uncertainty which still exists 

 respecting their number and differences. 



The best account of Paeonia Moutan hitherto published, 

 is by the late Mr. George Anderson, in the Transactions 

 of the Linnean Society ;* it forms part of a monograph of the 

 genus Paeonia, which was written in the year 1817. He, with 

 great propriety, brought together the different Tree Peonies, 

 which had been before considered as distinct species; and 

 also with equally good judgment adopted the only single 

 flowering plant then ascertained, as the type of his species. 

 M. Decandolle publishedf the genus in the first volume 

 of his Systema in 1818, subsequent to the production of Mr. 

 Anderson's Paper; but without however having had an 

 opportunity of examining it. Though three kinds had been 

 described by Mr. Anderson, M. Decandolle only gave 

 accounts of two ; and he also varied from the order adopted 

 by the former gentleman, by placing the single flowering 

 plant, the second in his arrangement In his Prodromus.J 

 however, published in 1824, he adopted the order and the 

 three plants of Mr. Anderson. 



Both these writers agreed in the adoption of the Chinese 



* Transactions of the Linnean Society, Vol. xii. page 24S. 

 f Decandolle, Regni Vegetabilis Systema Naturale, Vol. i. page 386. 

 + Decandolle, Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis, Pars I. 

 page 65. 



VOL. VI. 3 P 



