484 On the Paeonia Moutan, or Tree Paeony, fyc. 



the flowers but in the habit of the plant ; it is much more 

 slender and delicate: Both these last are very scarce, and 

 the white one is not only the rarest, but is the most highly 

 esteemed. These two are the kinds to which the enquiries 

 of persons collecting Moutans at Canton should chiefly be 

 directed. I have been informed by Mr. Reeves, that one 

 of the Double Purple Moutans was purchased a few years 

 since by an American Captain, in order to be carried home 

 by him ; but it probably perished in the voyage, for I have 

 not heard of its being in the United States. The fifth drawing 

 of the East India Collection was made subsequently to the 

 others; the plant figured is called the Wong Moutan Fa, 

 and is represented as having a double yellow flower. The 

 drawing is said to have been taken from a plant which 

 flowered in the house of a Mandarin at Canton, in February, 

 1810. This statement, however, is not credited, and the 

 existence of a Yellow Moutan, is altogether disbelieved by 

 those best capable of forming a judgment on the subject. 



The drawings executed in China, for the Horticultural 

 Society, under the direction of Mr. Reeves, are to be de- 

 pended on for their accuracy. Two are the Papaveracea, and 

 the Double Rosea. Besides these, there are the follow- 

 ing ; the plants which they represent have yet to be intro- 

 duced : — 1st. a semi-double white, of no great merit ; 2nd. 

 the Double Purple, similar to that figured in the East India 

 Company's collection ; 3rd. a small purplish red, with pale 

 edges to the petals, with the germens enveloped in a pale 

 membrane ; and, 4th, a very double pale red, with the interior 

 petals small, and closely packed together. The Horticultural 

 Society has also two other drawings, copied from two Chinese 



