P^O'NIA RUS'SI. 
Russ’s PiEONY. 
Class. Order. 
POLYANDRIA. DIGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
RANUNCULACE.E. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration 
Cultivated 
Sicily. 
2 feet. 
May, June. 
Perennial. 
in 1824. 
No. 627. 
The orig’in of the name Paeonia has been lately 
explained. The appellation Russi, was given to 
this plant by the Sicilian botanist Bivona, as a 
mark of respect towards an individual of the name 
of Russ. 
This is a remarkably showy and fine coloured 
flower. Its bright corolla and central anthers, like 
a ruby vessel containing purest gold, rises in strong 
relief from its deep green foliage. Thus, the Pae- 
ony, as Bishop Mant, in his British Months, says, 
“ Undaunted to the sun-beams spread, 
Her flame-like rays, and mantle red.” 
All species of the Pseony are now esteemed as 
better suited to furnish the borders of the florist 
than the shelves of the medical practitioner, al- 
though, from Galen to Culpepper, they were held 
in considerable estimation as medicines. For epi- 
lepsy, the root was used as an amulet. It was cut 
into slices, and attached by a string to the neck, 
and if this failed to effect a cure, recourse was had 
to the use of it internally, administered in powder. 
Like the Pseonia lobata, this species requi^^es no 
peculiarity of management. 
Don’s Syst. Bot. 1, 67. 
