Chap. XIX. 



THE MOUTAN. 



325 



the beauties of his favourite " Moutan-wha." It was 

 certainly a noble plant, and well worthy of the old 

 man's admiration. 



The tree-pseony is found wild on the mountains of 

 the central provinces of China, and is cultivated as 

 a garden-plant in all parts of the empire. It is called 

 the Mou-tan-wha, or Moutan flower, by the natives, 

 and hence botanists in Europe, retaining the Chinese 

 name for the species, call it Pseonia moutan. It was 

 first seen by Europeans in the gardens about Canton, 

 but it is not indigenous to that part of China. The 

 Canton gardeners carry on a large trade with the 

 moutan growers, who bring the plants yearly in boats 

 from the provinces of Hoo-nan and the western parts 

 of Kiang-nan, a distance of at least one thousand 

 miles. This takes place in the winter months when 

 the plants are leafless and in a state of rest. The 

 roots are packed in baskets, and have scarcely any 

 soil adhering to them ; in this simple manner they 

 are distributed over all the empire without suffering 

 any injury. On their arrival in the south they are 

 immediately potted by the purchasers, and, owing to 

 the difference in the temperature, soon come into 

 bloom. In the winter months snow is rarely seen on 

 the hills about Canton or Hong-kong, and oftentimes 

 the weather is very warm. The change, therefore, 

 acts upon the plants like a forcing-house, and soon 

 brings the leaves and flowers to maturity. As soon 

 as the flower-buds are fairly formed, the plants are 

 eagerly bought up by the natives to ornament their 

 balconies, halls, and gardens. The price of each plant 



