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P 7E O 
waved. The petals of all the Angle-flowered varieties 
are more indexed than thofe of the pubefcent fpecies, 
being formed into the fhape of a cup contracted at the 
mouth. An abundant fupply of plants of this variety 
has been imported from Holland fince the peace, not 
differing materially from Mr. Sabine’s plant. ' 
13 . P. rofea. This variety was obferved by Mr. Sabine 
in the Oxford Botanic Garden along with the plant that 
follows. We cannot obtain any account of their hiftory : 
they have in all probability been very old tenants of that 
garden ; perhaps fince the days of Morrifon, in the lat¬ 
ter end of the feventeenth century; nor do they feem to 
have found their way out of it, till Mr. Sabine was obli¬ 
gingly prefented with roots of them by Mr. Profeffor 
Williams. This has very broad undulated and obtufe 
leaflets, of a dark hue, tinged with red on the edges, and 
with a few flight hairs on the ribs of the under furface. 
Flowers of a pleafant rofe-colour; germens denfely to- 
mentofe, diverging at the apex. Stem ereft, as tall as 
var. a, flowering a fortnight earlier, about the middle of 
May. 
y. P. blanda. Obtained, as before mentioned,from the 
Oxford garden. The leaflets of this variety are likewife 
broad, though lefs fo than the preceding; alfo much lefs 
undulated, and of a peculiarly-pale-green colour for a 
plant of this fpecies : and, like thofe of the rofea, fur- 
nifhed with a few hairs on the back of the leaf. Stalks 
fpreading; petioles reddifh ; flowers of fame colour, and 
fame time of flowering, as the preceding; germens gene¬ 
rally three, upright at firflr, and finally diverging. 
S'. P. rubra : double red paeony. To this variety we 
may apply the words of Befler, “ vulgatiffima eft omnium 
paoniarum;” and we may add, without exaggeration, “the 
moft fplendid of all flowers.” Even the fine double 
pseonies from China, rich and magnificent as they are, 
cannot be compared for brilliancy with this common in¬ 
habitant of almoft every cottager’s garden in England. 
Nothing but its extreme vulgarity, and the extraordinary 
fecundity of its roots, could have brought this beautiful 
plant into the negleft it has buffered for a century paft. 
The firft account given of it is in the edition of Lobel’s 
leones, 1581. Camerarius writes, in 1588, “ id eft flore 
pleno quae ante paucos annos apud nos eft ccepta coli 
from which we may conclude that it was at that time a 
recent difeovery. The gardens of Europe have been en¬ 
riched with it, therefore, upwards of two centuries. 
s • P. carnefcens, or double fiefh-coloured paeony. This 
beautiful variety is not of fo old an introduction as the 
preceding. Morrifon gives us the firft account of it, in 
1699. The flower opens of a fine rofe-colour, and after¬ 
wards becomes pale-flefti ; it is not fo common as the pre¬ 
ceding, but neverthelefs is too well known among the 
gardeners to require any further defeription. 
9 . P. albicans, or double white paeony. Tabernasmon- 
tanus records this variety in 1590 ; it therefore mult have 
come into notice nearly about the fame period as the 
double red. The flower of this burfts forth of a pale- 
pink, and at length becomes almoft quite white; is very 
common along with the double red in moft of the old 
gardens, from which even negleCt and bad treatment will 
not banifh them. 
3. Paeoniacorallina,orentire-leaved paeony: leaves twice 
ternate; leaflets ovate, undivided. Follicles downy, re¬ 
curved. Native of the fouth of Europe. Dr. Sibthorp 
had wild fpecimens communicated to him by an apothe¬ 
cary of Zante. It was all’o dilcovered in a wild ftate by 
Francis Bowcher Wright, efq. in the rocky clefts of the 
ifland called Steep Holmes, in the Severn, in Auguft 1803; 
whence this fpecies has found a place in Englifh botany. 
Gerard fays he found it at Southfleet, Kent, which his 
editor, Johnfon, rudely denies. Ruftic gardens often 
abound with this flower, in its proper Angle ftate; the 
feed-veflels being admired, and long preferved for the de¬ 
coration of the cottage chimney-piece, on account of 
4 
N I A. 
their finning pink infide and black polilhed feeds, con- 
trafted with the red remains of numerous abortive ones, 
ranged along the edges. 
This is the vaiovia. tzffr,y, or male paeony, of Diofco- 
rides, whofe leaves he compares to thofe of a walnut-tree ; 
a.fufficient indication of their ovate tindivided fimply- 
pinnate form, by which the fpecies is clearly diftinguifh- 
able from the laft. The qualities of the two plants pro¬ 
bably differ but little. 
4. Pseonia humilis, or dwarf Spanifh paeony: leaves 
twice ternate ; leaflets in three deep linear legments, 
dowmy beneath. Follicles hairy, nearly ereft. Clufius 
records this as a native of Spain ; Gerard fpeaks of it as 
known in the Englifh gardens- in his time. Retzius de- 
feribes the ftem a foot and half high, Ample, fmooth, an¬ 
gular, and green. Leaves in very narrow fegments, acute ; 
glaucous above ; whiter and downy beneath. Petals of a 
deeper red than thofe of P. corallina. 
5. Paeonia peregrina, orcrimfon-ftowered fmall paeony: 
leaves twice ternate ; leaflets elliptic-oblong, decurrent, 
lobed ; glaucous and hairy beneath ; follicles ereCt, downy. 
Native, probably, of the fouth of Europe. It is a plant 
of much humbler growth, and fmaller dimenfions, than 
any of this genus that we have hitherto mentioned ; and 
is eflentially diftinguifhed, if we miftake not, by its de¬ 
current leaflets, whofe main ribs unite far above the bafe. 
The flowers are of an elegant, but not very deep or bright, 
crimfon, fcarcely three or four inches in diameter, often 
double, with linear internal petals, like a double ane- 
mony. It appears to be rather of recent introduction 
among us, and we have fome fufpicion of its having been 
brought from Siberia. The flowers are produced in May 
or early in June ; and the roots are quite hardy. 
6. Paeonia Daurica, or glaucous Daurian paeony : leaves 
pinnate; leaflets elliptical, obtufe, glaucous, fomewhat 
wavy; ftem herbaceous. Native of Siberia, from whence 
it was procured, in 1790, by the late Mr. Bell. This, like 
the reft, is a hardy perennial, flowering in Mayor June. 
Stem about tw r o feet high. Flowers large and handlome, 
of a purplifh rofe-colour, with copious yellow ftamens, 
and two piftils. Follicles ovate, divaricated, downy, about 
an inch and a half long. 
7. Paeonia laciniata, or jagged-leaved paeony: leaves 
biternate; leaflets acutely laciniate; germs fmooth. 
Root tuberous, difrorm, very large, defeending by cy¬ 
lindrical procefl'es a fpan in length, yellow'ifh without, 
white within, both frefli and dry, having a very ftrong 
fmell and tafte of bitter almonds or peach-kernels. Root- 
leaves none, but red awnlefs fheaths; whence rife the 
Items, which are feveral, from eighteen to twenty-feven 
inches in height, the thicknefs of the little finger, round, 
very fmooth, alternately and frequently leafy above, with¬ 
out any ftipules at the petioles. Leaves on a flat petiole 
channelled above, almoft ternate, but with the partial 
petioles fo margined with the leaf running along them, 
that they may be Called tripartite. The upper leaves to¬ 
wards the flower are gradually larger and lefs gaftied ; the 
laft are three-cleft, with the middle fegment five-cleft. 
At the calyx itfelf are two linear leaflets, bifid or trind 
at the tip. Flower nodding a little ; the calyx has three 
lanceolate leaflets, equal to the corolla in length, purple 
ft the bafe, leafy and reflex at the end; and three inner 
leaflets ovate-acuminate and concave ; corolla handfome, 
fpreading a little, deep role-coloured, with a (lightly vi- 
rofe fmell, fix-petalled, in gardens frequently feven-pe- 
talied : ftamens about two hundred and fifty: filaments 
briftle-fhaped, weak, twice as long as the antherae, which 
are large, ereCt, oblong, curved a little, longitudinally 
four-grooved, abounding very much in a pale-yellow 
pollen. Germs three or four, very frequently five, co¬ 
nical, fmooth, green, with a feflile crefcent-fliaped reflex 
purple ftigma. Native of all Siberia, in mountainous 
woods. In the gardens at Peterfburgh it flowers fooner 
than the other fpecies, namely, about the end of May. 
