[Plate 8.] 



THE DEEP BLOOD-COLOURED MO UTAH". 



(moutan officinalis; atrosanguinea.), 

 A Hardy Undershrab, from China, belonging to the Natural Order of Crowfoots. 



Paeonia Moutan, atrosanguinea : Jburnal of the Horticultural Society, vol. iv., py 225. 1 



IT will probably be admitted, without any difference of. opinion, that- this is the finest of 

 the Moutans introduced by the Horticultural Society. It is a plant with a. vigorous 

 growth, a deep green foliage tinged with red, and very large very double flowers, with dark 

 blood-coloured petals, which are nearly as broad in the centre as at the edge. In foliage it 

 is much like the common Moutan pajoyracea. 



And now a word respecting, the genus Moutan, which we propose to separate from 

 Pseonia. We need not say that all the Moutans are furnished with a- tough leathery coat, 

 which is drawn tightly round the carpels, of which it allows nothing but the stigmas to 

 project. This organ has no existence in P^onia, or in that part of it which one of us 

 formerly proposed to call On^pia, containing P.JBrownii and another.- It is of somewhat 

 uncertain nature; wherefore it has received from different persons the names of Disk, 

 Nectary, Perigynium, Paracorolla, &c. Upon this organ the genus Moutan is founded ; and 

 thus it differs from Paeonia as much as Ranunculus from Adonis, Actsea from Thalictrum, 

 Trollius from Helleborus, all genera of the same order — that is to say, because of the presence 

 of a part which does not appear in others. 



Of the nature of this part there is little room for doubt. It is in all probability an 

 innermost row of abortive stamens, the filaments of which are united into a cup, while the 

 anthers refuse to appear; and therefore it is referable to that part of the flower which 

 botanists now call disc. D. Don said he found anthers upon its edge, and i£ he was not 

 mistaken, that would be conclusive as to its nature ; but we have never been able to find 

 anthers upon it, nor does it appear that any one except Mr. Don ever did. 



In one of his interesting letters, Mr. Fortune gives the following account of the 

 manner in which the Chinese propagate Moutans : — 



" The propagation and management of the Moutan seem to be perfectly understood by 

 the Chinese at Shanghae, much better than they are in England. 



