accepted name (2005):
P. decomposita Handel-Mazzetti
1958
Original description:
Paeonia szechuanica Fang, spec. nov. Plate LXI; 1.
Frutex, 1—1.5 metralis, trunco 5 mm. diam., cortice nigro-griseo in lamellas satis tenucs soluto; ramuli teretcs , viridiscentes usque leviter purpurascentes, basi squamis persistentibus obtectis. Folia alterna, chartacea, 9—12 cm. longa, bipinnata vel tripinnata, usque 3—4 juga; foliola ovata, obovata vcl oblongo-obovata, basi cuneata, superne 3-lobata; lobi 3-lobulati, lobulis acuminatis, laminis supra viridibus, subtus pallide-viridibus, nervis supra obscuris, subtus leviter prominentibus; perioluli foliorum terminalium 5—7 mm. longi, lateralium 2—3 mm. longi; petioli 5—6 cm. longi. Flos solitarius, terminalis, 12—13 cm. diametro; bracteae 3—5, virides, lineares, 3—5 cm. longae, 3 mm. latae; sepala 4—5, plerumque 3, viridia et leviter flava, late obovata, 2.5 cm. longa, 1.5 cm. lata, apicc abrupte acuminata; petala 9—12, rosea vel purpurea, obovata, 3.5—4 cm. longa, 4 cm. lata, apice rotundata, emarginataque, basi attenuata; stamina numerosa, antheris flavis, linearibus, 7—8 mm. longis, filamentis albis, linearibus, 5—15 mm. longis; carpella 4—6, purpurea, conica, glabra, 12 mm. longa, stylis brevibus, stigmate piano, recurvo; discus coriaceus, poculiformis, dimidium carpelli amplectens. Folliculi nigro-purpurei, bractcis et sepalis persistentibus suffulti.
NW. Szechuan: --------- shrub 0.6 metre high, carpels 5, conical, surrounded by a disk ait base, 29 April 1957, H. Lee, No. 70316 (Type, in the Herbarium of the Department of Biology, Szechuan University, Chengtu, Szechuan; syntypes, in the Herbarium of the Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Peking, and in the Herbarium of the South China Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Canton). ----------- shrub about 1 metre high, carpels 4, 11 May'1957, H. Lee, No. 70591. ----------- shrub 1 metre high, carpels 5, 11 May 1957, H. Lee, No. 70647.------------- shrub 0.7 metre high, bark brownish, carpels 5, stigma pale yellow, slightly foetid, 18 May 1957, H. Lee, No. 70707. -------------shrub 1.5 metre high, carpels 5, yellowish, follicles reddish, glabrous, with persistent sepals and styles, 19 May 1957, H. Lee, No. 71071. --------------- shrub 1 metre high, leaves margin purple, carpels with a fleshy disk follicles green and slightly red, 10 June 1957, H. Lee, No. 71387. -----------shrub about 2 metres high, follicles with persistent bracts and sepals, 14 July 1957, C. Y. Chang et H. F. Chow, No. 22811.
This distinct new species seems to be near Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews and the imperfectly known Paeonia decomposita Handel-Mazzetti, but differs from former not only in the smaller leaflets which are glabrous on both surfaces but also in glabrous carpels only the lower half of which are enclosed by the coriaceous cup-shaped disk, and from the latter in the small ovate leaflets not papillose-glaucous on the under surface.
Picture on Walter Good's website:
1996
Hong D.-Y. et al in Taxon 45 (1) 67-69
Hong, De-Yuan, 1996 On the Identity of Paeonia decomposita Handel-Mazzetti
1998
Reference of Wang
Paeonia decomposita Hand.-Mazz. Syn:- P. szechuanica Fang in Acta Phytotax Sin. 7(4): 302,1958.
