HISTORY OF THE P^ONY PLANT IN CHINA AND JAPAN. 
89 
from there more to the west, as also along the road of Paou ching (near Han chung, prov. 
Shen se) up as far as Sie ; about the latter place, as stated in the " Genealogical Register 
of the Moiv tans,''' they are so very plentiful that the inhabitants gather them like common 
thorns for fire-wood. In the work " Woo tsa tsoo,'' * we find mentioned, that no Mow tans 
or Sho yos are found about the province of Fuh keen, and that the distribution of these 
plants has been limited to the province of Che kiang, and somewhat more to the south ; 
such is also said of the Nephelium, Le che, and Nephelium, ^jung yctn. 
HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE PiEONY IN JAPAN. 
The Japanese distinguish, after the example of the Chinese, the common Pseony 
from the improved one, and call the first Sjak yak, and the latter Botan, being Japanese 
perversions of the Chinese words, Slio yo and Moiv tan. The first also bears the name of 
Karo yokusa, or " plant which looks beautiful," being a Japanese translation of the Chinese 
name Sho yo, which we have before translated by " most beautiful." Their roots are 
also met with, under the name of Jehisu gusuri, or, " the medicine of the strangers." 
Whether the Pseony plant really originates in Japan, or whether its roots have been 
brought there from China in the same manner as to Cochin-China,t is a question not exactly 
decided by Japanese authors, at least with respect to the common sort ; they only 
name China as the original native country of the improved sorts. A Japanese " Gardener's 
Manual " upon the cultivation of plants, I commences its name-list of the Japanese 
improved sorts with the Chinese mother plant, which is there figured and described under 
the name of Kara botan, " Chinese Paeony," which of course gives considerable probability 
to what has been above stated. The improved Pseony from China, Kara hotan, is the 
very same named in Japan, Sisi hotan, " Lion Pseony," of which a red and a white-flowering 
sort exist, the first being of a pale purple colour with a white edge, and the latter of a dirty 
white, bearing a centre bud, which afterwards forms the black seed-vessel. The Chinese 
pictures only represent these two sorts ; and it is from the seeds of these two sorts that 
we have obtained the many varieties of Pseonies now in cultivation. According to what 
the "Japanese Encyclopaedia" communicates, regarding Pseony cultivation in Japan, the 
great interest which the Sjak yak and Botan flowers excited in China, took, about the 
same period, place in Japan, where they enjoyed great esteem ever since the days of 
Mikado Seimu (A. D. 724). 
The most splendid among the common Pseonies, says this author, is produced from the 
province Sinano, after which those from Tanba and Jse follow in succession ; and in point 
of medical superiority, he prefers the plants growing on the mountains. The sorts grown 
in pleasure-gardens receive attention merely for the beauty of their flowers. As new 
flowers are continually raised, which, of course, obtain different names after the raiser s 
taste, the number of difierent varieties now in cultivation, augments every day, and exceeds 
the number of five hundred. The most valuable and esteemed sort is the blush-coloured, 
with dish-formed petals and a gold-coloured centre. 
{To he continued.) 
* According to a note in the " Jap. Encyclopaedia." t Loureiro, " Flora Cochinchinensis," p. 420. 
X " Kwa dan dai zen," or ♦» Treatise upon the Cultivation of Flowers," by the florist Kwakiuken Sjuzin Miyako, 17.06, 
publication of 1788, pp. 1, 8. 
VOL. I. — NO. IK 
