F.C. Stern A Study of the Genus Paeonia

43. P.tenuifolia L. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10, 2, 1079 (1759), et SP.PI. Ed. a, 1, 748 (1763) ; Linn. f., PI. Rar. Hort. Upsal. fasc. i, P.9, t. 5 (1767) ; Pallas, Fl. Ross. 95, t. 87 (1788) ; Bot. Mag. t. 926 (1806) ; Martyn, Mill. Gard. Dict. no. 5 (1807) ; Bieberstein, Fl. Taw.-Cauc. 2, n (1808) ; Aiton, Hort. Kew. Ed. 2, 3, 316 (i8n) ; DC. Syst. 1, 394 (1817) ; Anderson in Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 12, 262 (1818) ; Smith in Rees, Cycl. no. n (1819) ; DC. Prodr. 1, 66 (1824) ; Rochel, PI. Banat. Rar. 48, t. 12 (1828) ; Host, F/. Austr. 1, 64 (1831) ; Reichenbach, Fl. Germ. Excurs. 751 (1832), et Ic. Fl. Germ. 4, t. 122 (1840) ; Ledebour, Fl. Ross. 1, 73 (1842) ; Heuffel in Verh. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien. 1858, P.49 ; Boissier, Fl. Orient. 1, 98 (1867) ; Baker in Gard. Chron., N. Ser. 21, 828 (1884) ; Simonkai, Enum. Fl. Transsilv. 66 (1886) ; Smimov, Emm. Espec. PI. Vase. Caw. (in Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 1887), 962 (1887) ; Lynch in Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. 12, 434 (1890) ; Korshinsky, Tent. Fl. Ross. Or. (Mem. Acad. Sc. St. Petersb., Ser. 8, 7), 22 (1898) ; Grecescu, ConsP.Fl. Roman. 43 (1898) ; Busch in Komarov, Busch, & Fomin, Fl. Caw. Crit. 3, iii, 8 (1901) ; Glirke in Richter, PI. EuroP.2, 403 (1903) ; Adamovic in Engler & Drude, Veg. Erde, 11, 87, et al. (1909) ; Fedtschenko & Fleroff, Fl. Eur. Russ. 413 (1910) ; Hayek, Pflanyndr. Oesterr.-Ung. 1, 448, et al., fig. 308 (1915-16) ; Prodan, Fl. Romania, 1, 408 (1923) ; Ascherson & Graebner, Syn. Mitteleur. Fl. 5, ii, 557 (1923) ; Hayek, Prodr. Fl. Penins. Balcan. 1 (in Fedde, ReP.SP.Nov. Beih. 30, i) 298 (1924) ; Fedtschenko, Fl. Ross. Austro-Orient. fasc. 4 (in Acta Horti PetroP.43, fasc. i), 322, fig. 330 (1930) ; Saunders in Nat. Hort. Mag. 13, t. P.229 (1934) ; Komarov, Fl. U.R.S.S. 7, 34 (1937) ; F.C. Stern in Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. 68, 130 (1943). References to figures not cited above will be found in the Index Londonensis.Syn. P.tenuifolia var. hybrida Lipsky, Fl. Ciscauc. 235 (1889-92). P.tenuifolia var. laterecta Neilreich Augzahl, Nachter, 70 (1876). P.tenuifolia var. parviflora Huth in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 14, 271 (1891). P.tenuifolia var. typica Schipczinsky in Not. Syst. Herb. Hort. Bot. PetroP.2, 46 (1921). P.hybrida Janka in Oesterr. Bot. Zeit. 5, 6o (1855), 6, 193 (1856), non Pallas. ? P.multifida Gueldenstein, Reisen, 2, 19 (1791).

Description. Stem 27-60 cm. long, glabrous, densely leafy with the flower resting as if it were on the foliage. Lower leaves divided on a bitemate pattern, but the leaflets completely dissected and lobed tripinnately into very numerous finely linear segments, 0.75-2 mm. wide, subacute to obtuse at the apex, glabrous and dark green above, glaucous below ; petioles and petiolules glabrous. Flowers about 6-8 cm. across, rather cup-shaped. Petals deep crimson, oblanceolate or obcuneate to obovate with the apex rounded to truncate or even emarginate. Stamens about i -5 cm., rarely 2 cm. long, filaments anthers and pollen all yellow. Carpels usually 3, less often 2, densely coarse-tomentose. Follicles about 2 cm. long.


 


 

 


Distribution. From Transylvania to the Caucasus. banat : Between Grebenacz and Ulma, Wifrzblcki (K) ; sine loc. A. F. Lang (K), Heuffel (K). transylvania : Mezo-Zah, Barth (K), Richter (K) ; near Zah, Janka (K) ; Mt. Bota, Frata and Zah, Janka (K) ; Mt. Bota, near Zau (Zah?), Mus. Bot. Univ. Cluj (K). bulgaria : Bozuriste, near Sofia, Stajamff (K) ; Dobroudja, Cap Caliacra, Cretzoiu (K). russia : Ucraine, distr. Stalin, W. Anadol, Krautschenko (K). Tauria, Simferopol, near Neusatz, Callier 770 (K) ; Ai-Petri, Klementz (K), ibid. Levandovucz and Tyrina (K), sine loc. Steven (K) ; " Saupta," Prescott (K). caucasus : Ciscaucasia, around Stauropol, Pastuchow 505 (K), ibid. Kolenati 55 (K) ; prov. ciscaucas., Hohenacker (K) ; sine loc. Kolenati (K) ; Armenia rossica, Szovitz 14 (K).

Paeonia tenuifolia, one of the species named by Linnaeus, is distinct from all other species. The leaves give the plant a fern-like appearance for they are deeply dissected into many segments, very narrowly oblong or linear and only 0-75 to 2 mm. wide. The segments are narrower than those of any other paeony species. The deep red flower appears just above the foliage and seems to rest on it. P.tenuifolia is a diploid. [end page 110]

It is an attractive plant for the garden and it is hardy and easy to grow. There is a double garden form which J. G. Baker (1884) says was introduced to English gardens in 1765.


P.X Smouthii, according to Horticulture Universal, vol. 4, 274 (1843), is a hybrid between P.albiflora (i.e. P.lactiflora) and P.tenuifolia; this plant is sometimes listed in nurserymen's catalogues as P.laciniata. The flowers of P.X Smouthii have a sweet scent and there is usually more than one flower to a stem ; both these characters are inherited from P.lactiflora. It is a charming plant for the garden. P.X Smouthii is a diploid as might be expected, as both the parents are diploids, but it has never borne fertile seed in my garden. This hybrid may have been called after Monsieur Smout, a chemist in Malines, who was a keen hybridizer of plants.


P.hybrida of Pallas is said by A. P.de Candolle (1818) to be a garden hybrid between P.anomala and P.tenuifolia, but he adds that it " appears spontaneously in Tauria " and again that " P.laciniata is like P.tenuifolia but taller and the segments broader—a mere variety."


P.tenuifolia var. plena Sweet, Brit. Flow. Gard. 7 (Ser. a, IV), t. 345 (1836), et Ornam. Flow. Gard. 1, t. 47 (1854).Syn. P.tenuifolia var.flore pleno Lemaire in Flore des Series, 4, t. 308 (1848) ; Bailey, Stand. Cycl. ffort. 5, 2435, fig. 2723 (1916) ; Saunders in Nat. Hort. Mag. 13, t. P.230 (1934). [end page 111]