193 
P M O 
The root dried is ufed by the Mongols and fome Tartars 
as fauce for their meat; and Boetcher, an army-furgeon, 
found it to be ul'eful in intermittent fevers. 
8. Paeonia hybrida, or mule paeony : leaves ternate- 
multifid ; fegments linear; germs three, pubefcent. This 
has nearly the ftature of the laft, and is much taller than 
the next. Stem the thicknefs of a finger, obfcurely chan¬ 
nelled (which is not in P. laciniata), more rigid, naked 
at bottom, as that is, hence up to the flower leafy, rather 
more copioufly than in the preceding. Petioles above 
concave-channelled, thicker and ftiffer than in P. lacini¬ 
ata, trifid. Leaves trichotomous-multifid, linear, the 
middle trifid, divided into 14—24—14; the lateral ones 
into 14—22—9, or thereabouts; the uppermoft leaves 
fmaller, divided into about eighteen clefts; the floral 
ones five-cleft and ten-cleft. Calyx feflile; green, with 
the edge and middle purple. Petals l'even, large, wide, 
lefs oblong than in P. laciniata, but of a deeper red co¬ 
lour between that and P. tenuifolia, more coriaceous than 
in that, and of a more globular figure. Stamens thirty 
to forty or more, with fmaller antheras, commonly fhri- 
velling and deftitute of pollen. Germs three, conical- 
convex, pubefcent, with crefcent-fhaped, very red, ftigmas. 
This plant is fuppofed to have originated in the botanic 
garden at Peterlburgh, from the feeds of P. tenuifolia 
town in the fame bed with P. laciniata ; and it is conjec¬ 
tured to be a mule between them, iince it has not ever 
produced ripe feeds. It occurs of a much fmaller fize in 
fome parts of Siberia. 
9. Paeonia tenuifolia, or flender-leaved peony: leaflets 
linear, many-parted; germs two, tomentofe. Root 
creeping, putting forth tuberous fibres, with tubercles 
the fize of a hazel-nut, white, flelhy, of a bitterifh tafte. 
Stem fcarcely a foot high, and commonly Angle, but in 
the garden eighteen inches high, and feveral from the 
fame root, but fewer than in P. laciniata. Root-leaves 
none, ftem round, very-obfcurely grooved, fmooth, as is 
the whole plant, naked at bottom, having there only a few 
Iheathing fcales. Leaves frequent, alternate, the upper 
ones gradually lefs, on a round petiole, channelled above, 
quinate : leaflets cut into very-many narrow fegments. 
Flower feflile at the uppermoft leaf, fubglobular, accom¬ 
panied by two leaflets, one multifid, the other Ample, 
both dilated at the bafe. Calyx five-leaved ; leaflets con¬ 
cave-gibbous, two of them exterior and acuminate. Pe¬ 
tals eight, fprending, oval, very-deep red. Stamens about 
a hundred and twenty, with pale filaments, and erebt, 
oblong, deep-yellow, antherae. Germs two or three, co¬ 
nical, villole, with a crefted, reflex, vertically-flat, rofe- 
coloured, ftigma. Capfules, in the wild plant, commonly 
two, in the gardens three, ovate-oblong, tomentofe, red, 
when they open reflex and fpreading, coriaceous. Seeds 
oblong, firft yellow, then brown, about fix in number, 
faftened to the opening future. Native of Ukraine. In¬ 
troduced in 1765 by Mr. William Malcolm. 
id. Pasonia moutan, Chinefe tree-pseony, or moutan : 
ftem woody, perennial; leaflets oblong-ovate; glaucous 
and fomewhat hairy beneath ; the terminal one three- 
lobed; germens numerous, diftinbh Native of China, 
where it is one of the inoft favourite objefls of horticul¬ 
ture, as may befeen by the paper-hangings, fcreens, porce¬ 
lain, and other ornamental productions of art, brought 
from that country. It is depicted on fuch with double 
blofloms, either of a rofe-colour, crimfon, purple, white, 
or even of a golden-yellow. The firft only has been in¬ 
troduced into this country, by fir Jofeph Banks, in 1789. 
Collectors who have had means of communication with 
China, particularly the late Charles Greville, and fir 
Abraham Hume, have anxioufly endeavoured to obtain 
fome of the other varieties, but in vain ; except that the 
gentleman laft-mentioned procured a Ihrubby paeony with 
a Angle flower, more beautiful than the double, of which 
vve (hall prefently fpeak as a diftinCt fpecies. The mou¬ 
tan proves tolerably hardy in England, though, like 
many other plants from the fame country which bloflom 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1235. 
N I A. 
early in our fpring, it requires the protection of a glafs 
frame at that- feafon. The Ihrubby ftem is peculiar to 
this and the next fpecies, among all thofe hitherto known, 
and forms a large buffi, fpreading feveral feet in diameter. 
Leaves on long ftalks, alternate, large, and fpreading, 
twice or thrice ternate in an oppofite manner, deciduous; 
their leaflets tapering at the bale, acute, entire, occafion- 
ally lobed, veiny ; glaucous and very fparingly hairy be¬ 
neath ; the terminal ones three-lobed. The fcales of the 
leaf-buds are pale-crimfon. Flowers terminating the 
branches, folitary, fix or eight inches broad, known to us 
in a very double ftate only, confiding of innumerable 
jagged rofe-coloured petals, with a few ftamens, with yel¬ 
low antheras* remaining unchanged, and a greater or lefs 
number of germens, all feparate and diftinCL The fmell 
of the flow’er is generally unpleafant; but a fweet-fcent- 
ed variety, of the fame colour, is cultivated by Meffrs. 
Lee and Kennedy. 
11. Paeonia papaveracea, or poppy-fruited paeony: ftem 
woody, perennial; leaflets oblong-ovate ; glaucous and 
flightly hairy beneath ; the terminal one three-lobed ; 
germens about fix, clofely combined into a globe. This 
bloflomed in 1808 in the fine collection of the late lady 
Amelia Hume, at Wormleybury, having been introduced 
a year or two before from China. It differs in norefpeCt 
as to ftem and foliage from the preceding. The flowers 
however differ, in being nearly Angle, with fcarcely more 
than five petals, which are very large, white or bluffi-co¬ 
loured, with a large purple fpot at the bafe of each, vie- 
ing with the beauty of a gum ciftus. The ftamens alfo 
are copious and all perfeCt. But the moft remarkable dif¬ 
ference exifts in the piftil, which confifts of fix germens, 
rarely more, all clofely compreffed together into a globe, 
like a poppy-head, and even enveloped in one common 
integument. The appropriate number of ftigmas, one to 
each germen or cell, crowns this globe. Whether this 
can poffibly be a variety, is doubtful. Dr. Sims is in¬ 
duced to confider it, if natural, as amounting to a gene¬ 
ric diftinCtion. 
12. Paeonia decora, or handfome paeony: leaflets tri- 
partite-laciniate, oblong-obtufe, hairy beneath ; ftigmas 
bent back. This and the two fucceeding fpecies are 
nearly allied to each other : it is, however, frequently a 
much eafier talk to determine a fpecies than to defcribeit. 
Our prefent plant we do not hefitate to refer to that 
which Clufius obtained from Conftantinople; as the de- 
fcription which he and the fucceeding writers give of it 
agrees with ours, and it alfo comes from the fame quar¬ 
ter. It is remarkable for the elegant ftatelinefs of its 
habit. Each ftalk, accompanied by its horizontal leaves, 
diminifliing as they afcend, and terminated by its flower, 
(which is rather fmaller than is ufual in the genus,) fup- 
ported on a long peduncle, exhibits fomewhat of a pyra¬ 
midal figure. Its leaflets are conftantly more or lefs lon¬ 
gitudinally inflexed or concave : in this refpebt itrefem- 
bles the P. humilis, but differs from it in the leaflets being 
broad and obtufe. The follicles are lefs pubefcent than 
thofe of the two following fpecies, but more fothan thofe 
of the preceding ; they are very large, and at maturity 
diverge widely, but do not become fo much recurved as 
thofe of P. arietina. We have only obferved two varieties. 
a. P. Pallafii: leaflets narrow-oblong. Seeds of this 
plant were received by Meffrs. Lee and Kennedy from 
Pallas, probably from the Crimea, where he fpent the 
latter years of his life. The name he gave it, if any, has 
been loft ; they called it byzantina; its flow'er has a fine 
deep-rofe colour, in fliape and appearance notunlike that 
of Papaver fomniferum ; the feedlings came up without 
exhibiting any apparent variation. 
( 3 . P. elatior : leaflets broad-oblong. Firft obferved in 
the nurfery of Meffrs. Chandler and Buckingham, who 
believe they got it from Holland. It differs from the 
preceding in the leaves being fomewhat broader, and 
the plant altogether more robuft and rather more pubef¬ 
cent j unqueftionably a mere variety, 
3D 13. Pasonia 
