ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
Calyx 5-phyllus. Petala 5. Stylus 0. Capsulæ polyspermæ.
Cup 5-leaved. Petals 5. Pointal none. Capsules many-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Pæonia foliis pinnatis: foliolis sub-ovatis, glaucis: floribus rubro-purpureis: caulis herbaceus, bipedalis.
Pæony with winged leaves: the leaflets are nearly egg-shaped, and glaucous: flowers of a red purple: stem herbaceous, and about two feet high.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement and seed-buds.
2. A chive.
3. The seed-buds as they appear when the seeds are nearly perfect.
This fine Pæony is at present a scarce plant; nor is there any figure of it extant, if not in the Flora Russica of Dr. Pallas. The specimen our figure represents was received from Mr. J. Bell, who raised it from seed, and with whom it has flowered for the first time in this country. It may with propriety be ranked among the most attractive of the herbaceous species. The flowers expand in the early part of summer; and from the cold climate whence it is indigenous, little doubt need be entertained of its resisting our winter, if it can but endure the sudden changes of weather to which this island is subject; a transition that frequently proves more fatal to plants the natives of a cold northern clime, than to those of southern origin.[Pg 109]
