A NEW CLASSIFICATION OF THE GENUS P^EONIA. 



441 



lacerated. This is one of the earliest of Paeonies, and 

 may be known as it comes out of the ground in spring by 

 the pale glaucous green colour of the leaves. Mountains 

 of Crete. 



21. P. Bakeri, n. sp. (P. peregrina byzantina, Hort. Barr).— 

 Root cylindrical or somewhat spindle-shaped. Stem stout, about 

 2 feet high, red or reddish, flexuose, pilose from the lowest leaf 

 to the flower. Leaves about six, biternate, the lowest often 

 inserted at nearly its own length from the ground, not quite 

 one-third as long as the stem ; petioles reddish ; leaflets (all 

 divisions cut to the midrib or secondary petiole, and in symmetry 



with the rest of the leaf), 13 to 15 of lower leaves, 3 to 3 J inches 

 long, broadly ovate, acute, margin reddish, and upper surface 

 often suffused with reddish tint, all strongly decurrent and quite 

 entire, except thai the terminal middle leaflet may be cut once 

 deeply (as in fig. 32), very hairy beneath and glaucous. Flowers 

 always (apparently) 2-bracteate ; calyx slightly hairy, sepals five, 

 oval or rotundate ; corolla deep rose, about 4^ inches across, 

 opening fairly flat ; petals eight, obovate, slightly crisped, usually 

 with white median line beneath. Carpels tending to three, 

 arcuate. 



One of the most distinct as a species in this group. Its habit 

 resembles that of P. triternata. It is twice as tall as P. arietina 

 Andersoni in the Cambridge Botanic Garden. Differs in impor- 

 tant particulars from Anderson's description of peregrina byzan- 

 tina, who does not remark some features of this plant. In the 



Pig. 31 



D 



