A Primer on Peony Names
In our catalogue we use the variety or cultivar names of our peonies rather than the complete botanical names. However when talking about the history or botany of peonies it's impossible not to include botanical names. (To simplify things a bit, we use variety and cultivar interchangeably)
Botanical names are essentially Latin names for plants that have been assigned based upon an internationally accepted naming system. From a botanist's perspective peonies belong to the family Paeoniaceae and the genus Paeonia.
Within the genus Paeonia there are a number of species or sub groups of peonies with common characteristics. For example Paeonia lactiflora is a species of peony in the genus Paeonia, in the family Paeoniaceae.
Many peony species have varieties or cultivars. For example about half of the peonies listed in our catalogue this year are varieties or cultivars of the species P. lactiflora . To keep things simple we list them only by their variety or cultivar names. 'Philomèle' is listed as just that, 'Philomèle' rather than P. lactiflora 'Philomèle'.
When two different species of peony are crossed the result is neither species, but a new creation called a hybrid. Hybrids are usually created in an attempt to capture the best characteristics of both parents.
We list many beautiful hybrid peonies in our catalogue and point out, for those interested, the parentage of the peony. For example the beautiful red peony 'Scarlet O' Hara' is a hybrid peony that resulted in a cross between P. lactiflora and P. officinalis. Throughout the pages in this section we use both the botanical and variety names.
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Types of Peonies (Herbaceous vs. Tree vs. Intersectional)
Tree peonies have woody above ground stems that remain throughout the year, much like a small shrub. The leaves however are deciduous and fall each autumn.
Herbaceous peonies die back to the ground each autumn.
Intersectional peonies are the result of crossing herbaceous and tree peonies. Like herbaceous peonies they die back to the ground each year. Their foliage and flowers however are reminiscent of tree peonies.
All three types of peonies form the next year's buds each fall. Tree peonies form these buds mostly on the above ground stems. Herbaceous and intersectional peonies form these buds on the underground crown of the plant. This difference accounts to a large degree in the difference in hardiness. Herbaceous and intersectional peonies will thrive in northerly climes too cold for tree peonies.
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Flowers
The flowers of the peony are probably the characteristic that attracts people most.
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Peonies generally have large showy flowers.
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In most plants only one flower appears per stem though there are three species (P. emodi, P. veitchii and P. lactiflora) that produce side buds resulting in several flowers per stem. Some gardeners remove the side buds to encourage a larger main flower. Others leave the side buds to extend the flowering season.
Many peonies, especially singles and semi-doubles, produce seed pods after the flowering season. The seed pods turn from green to a brownish colour as they ripen and can be quite decorative. The peony seed is about the size of a pea and is surrounded by a hard dark shiny coat. See the page on propagation to learn how to germinate peony seeds (Propagation).
We gardeners usually described peony flowers in terms of their form, colour and fragrance
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Colour
Herbaceous peonies range in colour from white to yellow to coral to pink to red to maroon.
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But there are no blue peonies!
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The only truly yellow herbaceous peony is P. mlokosewitschii. This peony was crossed with P. lactiflora to produce the hybrid 'Claire de Lune' which has a beautiful pale yellow flower. There are a few other hybrids that have pale yellow flowers such as 'Prairie Moon' and 'Goldilocks'. (See Newsletter Article - Yellow Peonies for more information)
P. wittmanianna has creamy white flowers that are occasionally considered as yellow.
It is important to note that the age and growing conditions of a peony will effect flower colour. Slight variations of colour can be seen from one growing location to another and immature plants will invariably produce flowers of unexpected colours.
Yellow is really the domain of the tree and intersectional peonies. Intersectional examples include 'Garden Treasure' and 'Bartzella'. While among the tree peonies 'High Noon' and 'Age of Gold' are good examples.
Back to beginning of Flowers
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Form
In North America peony flowers are generally considered to be one of four forms.
Single: Five or more wide petals arranged in a single row around a centre of pollen bearing stamens. Example 'Sea Shell'
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Semi-double: Several layers of wide petals arranged around a centre of pollen bearing stamens. Example 'Minnie Shaylor'
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Japanese: Five or more enlarged guard petals around a centre of stamens that have been modified into small petals giving the centre of the flower the appearance of a soft mound of small petals. Example 'Mandarin's Coat'
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Double: The centre of the flower is completely transformed into petals giving the flower a full round appearance. Double flowers are often sterile, as they have transformed their pollen and seed bearing structures into petals. Example 'Evening Star'
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There is however a useful fifth form, the anenome form. Simply put this form represents a further evolution from the Japanese form towards the double form. The centre of stamens that have been modified into pollen edged petals in the Japanese form are now a little wider and without the pollen margins. These thin petals are sometimes referred to as petalodes or petaloids.
Excellent examples of anenome form peonies include 'Alice Crousse' and 'Philomèle'.
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You will find a further discussion and more examples of peony flower forms in the Newsletter article written by Reiner Jakubowski, then President of the Canadian Peony Society. Article
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As with colour, young peonies often have flower forms differing from those of mature plants.
Back to beginning of Flowers
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Fragrance
Peonies are renowned for their fragrance. Some were actually used in perfumes at the beginning of the twentieth century and still are to some extent today.
Not all peonies have a fragrance and of those that do, some can be actually disagreeable.
Mr. A. H. Fewkes wrote in the 1916 American Peony Society Bulletin that from his observations colour had some influence on fragrance. He noted that the full double rose-pink varieties are the most fragrant, while the single and semi-double reds had a disagreeable odor and that the double reds had no odor at all.
Though I can't categorically say that this correlation has matched my own experience, I can say that in general....
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.... the best smelling peonies are often double pinks.
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A few of my favourite fragrant peonies are:
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Mme de Verneville |
M. Jules Élie |
James Pillow |
Bev |
Many singles have a light fragrance but I find they are rarely as powerful as the doubles.
The early hybrids tend to have little or no fragrance while the tree peonies and intersectional peonies often have good fragrance.
In our catalogue descriptions, I have given my opinion on whether or not a particular peony has an agreeable fragrance.
Back to beginning of Flowers
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Leaves
The form and colour of peony leaves is very variable. The classification of peonies has, to a large extent, been based on leaf form. The herbaceous peonies have essentially been classified into those with leaves that are entire and undivided and those that are dissected to varying degrees.
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By far the most well known peonies today have undivided leaves.
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However P. tenuifolia and its hybrids such as 'Smouthi' have very pleasing dissected foliage.
In addition to differences in form, leaves differ in colour and hairiness. For example P. lactiflora has glossy, hairless leaves while the hybrid 'Le Printemps' has dull green leaves that are slightly hairy on the underside.
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Roots
The roots of herbaceous peonies are tuberous. The tuberous roots are attached to a mass of underground tissue usually referred to as the crown. The following picture is of a peony plant that has been dug in the fall and washed off so that the structures are clearly visible. The new buds can be clearly seen at the base of the stems.
The species P. tenuifolia actually spreads by stolons or above ground runners. The species P. officinalis and P. peregrina are able to produce adventitious buds (buds that arise from other than the crown).
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The form of peony roots is quite variable. Those shown above are typical of P. lactiflora .
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In some peonies the roots taper slowly from the crown while in others the roots are swollen and attached to the crown by thin sections of root.
The roots of herbaceous peonies contain phenols, which act against microbial action and allow root sections to lie in the soil for long periods of time without decay.
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The root system of a tree peony is much finer and more woody than a herbaceous peony. Because they are grafted the herbaceous nurse root is often still visible on young plants. In the image below you can clearly see the new long slender tree peony roots near the top and the thick stubby herbaceous root below.
Intersectional peonies are with very few exceptions, on their own roots. As might be expected, they look something between herbaceous and tree peony roots. Thinner than herbaceous roots but still with a very obvious crown.
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Growth Cycle
The peony is a long lived perennial plant. It is not unusual to hear of peonies that have been growing in the same location for over 50 years.
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There are many known cases of peonies surviving over 100 years.
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Peonies do not like to be disturbed once they are established. Unlike many other perennials they do not need to be divided on a regular basis. On the contrary!
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They prefer to be left alone.
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The growth cycle of peonies appears deceptively simple. The major feature of this cycle is the requirement for a cold dormancy period. It is well established that peonies are cool climate plants.
Like many plants the peony grows its small fibrous roots in the fall. As winter approaches and temperatures drop the plant goes dormant. When the soil begins to warm up in the spring previously formed buds on the underground crown begin to elongate and push up through the soil. The buds on the branches of tree peonies swell and begin to unfurl.
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Herbaceous peony shoots pushing through the cold spring soils are true harbingers of spring.
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It is interesting to note that the herbaceous and intersectional crown has a number of latent buds. If the primary buds are removed from the crown the latent buds will begin to grow. So if you accidentally knock off the crown buds of your peony new ones, dormant until now, will begin to grow to replace them.
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Depending on the species and variety, flowers appear from May to June in our area.
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The successfully pollinated flowers set seed that ripens slowly over the remainder of the summer. The seed pods split in late summer to reveal hard dark seeds the size of peas.
The seeds of peony also have specific dormancy requirements. It's interesting to note that once sown in a warm moist location peony seed will readily send out a root. The shoot however will not appear until the seed has undergone a dormancy period to be brought about by dropping temperatures. After dormancy requirements have been met and the soil temperatures warm up the shoot will appear. To learn how to germinate peony seeds see the propagation page (Propagation).
During the late summer new buds are formed and food is stored in the roots for the following growing season. As the weather turns colder the foliage begins to die back, eventually dying back to the crown in the case of herbaceous and intersectional peonies or dropping from the branches in the case of tree peonies. The peony enters a stage of dormancy and the cycle begins again.
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Taxonomy of the Genus Paeonia
Small populations of wild peonies can be found distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Wild tree peonies however are found exclusively in China. Peonies belong to the genus Paeonia and have been cultivated for their ornamental and medicinal value for probably two thousand years.
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Peonies are ancient plants.
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Gardeners and commercial growers tend to divide peonies into two broad classes based upon their growth habits; tree peonies and herbaceous peonies. Tree peonies are woody plants while herbaceous peonies by definition are plants that are not woody but rather are leafy plants that die down at the end of each growing season.
The taxonomy (system of classification) of Paeonia has been a subject of much discussion and revision. For many years the genus Paeonia was considered as part of the family Ranunculaceae. However most botanists accept that the genus Paeonia is sufficiently different from other members of the family Ranunculaceae and so the family Paeoniaceae was created.
Botanists have been attempting to classify peonies for many hundreds of years and even today the debates still rage. One of the reasons for the continued debate is the increased accessibility of plant material and scientific work in such countries as China and Russia.
Both of these countries have wild peony populations and China in particular has a long history of studying and cultivating peonies. Western access to wild plant material and the work of Russian and Chinese botanists was limited. This however is changing and with this change comes the availability of new information and debate.
Perhaps the most widely used classification system in the western world used until very recently as the system developed by the English peony specialist Sir Frederick. J. Stern. In 1946 Sir Frederick. J. Stern developed a classification system that divided the genus into three sections, four sub sections, sixteen groups, thirty three species and thirteen botanical varieties.
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Many changes to this system have been proposed in the last 50 years.
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Perhaps one of the most significant changes being the recognition that the tree peony species P. suffruticosa is actually a collection of hybrid cultivars that were derived from several newly identified tree peony species native to China.
Early in 2004, the Czechoslovakian botanist Josef J. Halda with James W. Waddick published a new work revising the classifications within the entire genus Paeonia.
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New technologies are beginning to play a role in plant taxonomy.
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Researchers in Japan are using DNA testing to clarify genetic relationships between tree peonies. While researchers in the US have been using DNA testing to study the phylogenic relationships of species peonies. It is foreseeable that in the near future such analysis will lead to an undisputed classification of the genus Paeonia.
The taxonomy of peonies may not be of great concern or interest to the home gardener nor to the commercial grower but it is of great importance to the plant breeder. Individual peony species represent genetic diversity that is useful to the breeder attempting to develop or accentuate specific characteristics. Knowing which species are closely related also helps the breeder in determining which interspecies crosses may be feasible.
In addition to the large number of known species of peony there are a huge number of cultivars. Many of these cultivars are hybrids resulting from crosses between two different species. We offer many hybrid peonies in our catalogue as well as many varieties of P. lactiflora (Catalogue).
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