By Joseph Sabine, Esq, 



describes the plants of Japan, and (page 862) among them 

 the Botan, as a species ; but does not mention any varieties. 

 He distinguishes it by its woody stem from an Herbaceous 

 Paeony called Saku Jaku, of which he names three varieties. 

 Thunberg, in his Flora Japonica, printed in 1784 (page 230), 

 confounds the Saku Jaku and Botan together, referring 

 both, most absurdly, to the Paeonia officinalis of Linnaeus, 

 and states that they are cultivated in every garden of Japan. 

 The Saku Jaku of ELempfer is, according to the printed 

 opinions of those who have attended to Paeonies, referable to 

 the species well known in our gardens as P. albiflora, though 

 neither of the varieties mentioned by him have white flowers. 



Loureiro, in his Flora Cochinchinensis,* has created 

 much confusion on the subject of Paeonies. His only species 

 is called P. officinalis. He names two varieties of it; one 

 with a red, the other with a white flower, both apparently 

 herbaceous, for notwithstanding his use of the terms caulis 

 suffruticosus in his general character, every other part of it 

 is referable as above stated to P. albiflora, of which I am 

 inclined to think he intended to describe two double varieties. 

 His account of his Paeony is, that it grows both wild and 

 cultivated in the Chinese Empire, especially in the northern 

 provinces, and that it was introduced from China into Cochin- 

 china. He states, bes des, that there " are many varieties," 

 perhaps species, " which he has not seen." 



All the Moutans are sufficiently hardy to bear exposure 

 in the open ground in the winter. The Banksii has been 

 considered the hardiest ; but neither that nor Papaveracea 



* Edit. 1, anno 1790, page 343. Edit. 2, a Willdenow, anno i;03, vol. i, 

 page 419. 



