N. 0. RANONOULAOEffi. 
37 
Vern. : — Ud-silap (H.) ; Bhuma-madiya, yet gh4s (.Bhut.) ; 
Mamekh (Pb.) ; Chandra, f tbe plant); Sdjumiya (the young 
edible shoot) N -W. P. 
Habitat : — West Temperate Himalaya, from Kumaon to 
Hazara. 5,000 to 10,000. In the upper Tons valley. 
A glabrous perennial herb. Stems 1-2 ft., leafy, erect. 
Leaves alternate, 6-12 in. long ; leaflets 3, usually 3-parted, 
segments lanceolate, pointed, entire. Flowers few, showy 3-4 in. 
across, long-stalked, usually solitary in the axils of the upper 
leaves. Buds globose. Sepals 5, orbicular, concave, green, 
persistent the outer ones .ending in a leaf-like point. Petals 
5 10, broadly ovate, concave, red or white. Stamens many. 
Ovaries 1-3, densely hairy, many-ovuled, seated on a fleshy disk ; 
style short, broad', recurved. Follicles ovoid, 1 in. Seeds few, 
large, (Collett). 
Dr. Dymock observes : — “ The tubers are of the female Paeony 
of Dioscoridetf It seems therefore that the male plant is 
distinct, and is called P. Corallina ; the female is called P. 
Officinalis. (Vide. Pharmaco. lnd. Vol. I., P.. 17). The flowers 
are often pinkish. 
In the Botanical Maganize lor July 1st, 1868 Dr. Hooker writes : - 
“ In the “ Flora Indica ” Dr. Thomson and I referred the Himalayan 
Peonies to forms of P. Officinalis,— a conclusion little acceptable to some 
botanists, and not at all to gardeners. On reviewing the subject d propos of 
the present plant, I see no reason to alter my opinion that, as compared with 
the species of many other genera, the Himalayan ones may well be referred 
to forms or varieties of the European; but as they differ greatly in habit, 
colour, and those qualities that render them worthy of cultivation, as well as 
in some other points of a little more moment 4 I here keep one at any rate 
distinct. This is the P. Emodi of Wallich, a common temperate Himalayan 
plant from Kumaon to Kashmir which is easily recognised by its jslender 
habit, white, subpanicled flowers, and solitary tomentose carpel ; in this 
respeot alone, of a solitary tomentose carpel, it differs from P. Albiflora, Willd. 
of Siberia ; and in the tomentose carpel alone from a Kashmir one-carpelled 
plant, hitherto not distinguished from this, and which, therefore, differs 
from P. albiflora in the solitary carpel alone." 
“ * * Dr. More F.L.8. says of it that It is the most distinct of all the 
herbaceous Peonies, several of the flowers expanding together on the same 
stem, and being always monogynous. It is more tender than any other 
herbaceous species, and appears above ground a month earlier than these 
do.” 
