Chap. XIX. 



MOUTAN GABDENS. 



321 



and flowers of a dark velvety purple, like the Tus- 

 cany rose of our gardens. This the Chinese call the 

 " black" moutan, and I believe it is the same which 

 Dr. Lindley has described in the Journal of the 

 Horticultural Society, and named Pceonia atrosan- 

 guinea. Another kind, called the " tse," or purple, 

 has double flowers of a large size ; this is probably 

 the variety reported to have 1000 petals, and which 

 is said to exist only in the garden of the emperor. 

 The third is called the " lan," or blue ; this is a lilac 

 variety, with flowers of the colour of Wistaria sinensis. 

 There are others of various shades of purple, per- 

 fectly distinct from these, and equally fine. 



The double whites are also numerous and hand- 

 some. The largest of these Dr. Lindley has named 

 P. globosa, but there are four or five others nearly as 

 large and double. Some of them have a slight lilac 

 tinge, which gives a richness to the colour. The 

 most expensive is one called " wang," or yellow, by 

 the Chinese : it is a straw-coloured variety, rather 

 pretty, but not so handsome as some of the others. 



The reds (hong) are also numerous. Curiously 

 enough, those kinds which are common in Canton 

 and England are rare here. There are about half-a- 

 dozen new varieties of reds in these gardens : one of 

 them, called " Van-yang-hong," is the finest flower I 

 ever saw. The flowers are of a clear red colour, 

 unlike any of the others, perfectly double, and each 

 measures 10 inches across. Altogether I numbered 

 about thirty distinct varieties in these gardens. 



Nearly all these fine varieties of the moutan are 



Y 



