accepted name (2005):

Paeonia officinalis subsp. italica Passalaqua & Bernardo 2004

Lynch (1890):

Sub-genus Paeon.

Herbaceous. Petals not leathery, large and expanding, much exceeding the sepals.

E. Leaves glaucous, or of very pale green above, generally of striking grey-green aspect; leaflets glaucous below, and very rarely without distinct pubescence, always divided, and with the lobes often fissured. (See figs. 30-33.)

I. Flowers distinctly stalked, not apparently sessile, and resting on the upper leaves.

** Carpels hairy.

++ Terminal free divisions of the leaf three-lobed; the middle lobe rarely bifid, never trifid, (See fig. 31.)

§§ Leaf segments three times, or more, as long as they are broad.

22. P. pubens, Sims, Bot. Mag., t. 2264—

Stem hairy. Leaf segments tapering to a point, very hairy below, margins red. Corolla rosy red. (See fig. 33.)

23. P. Barrii (P. Russi, Bot. Mag., t. 8431, non Bivon.).—

Leaf segments about five times as long as broad, scarcely pubescent, but very glaucous below. Corolla brilliant red. Requires a new name, as the type for similar plants with narrow segments scarcely hairy beneath.

II. Plants dwarf, with flowers subsessile, appearing to rest on the leaves.

24, P. mollis, Anders., Bot. Reg,, vi. 474; Sweet, Brit. Fl. Garden, vol. ii., 1.108; Lodd. Cab., 1.1268.—

Stems a foot high or more, rigid. Leaves dark bluish green, flat, compact, and much divided ; secondary petioles almost wanting ; segments broadly lanceolate or oblong, crowded, imbricating, not bordered with red, densely hairy below. Corolla small, purple-red. Carpels usually three, erect, slightly incurved. Anderson suspects it to have come from the Crimea.

25. P.villosa, Sweet, Fl. G; 1.113 (P. sessiliflora, Bot. Mag; t. 2648).—

Nearly related to the above, but with secondary petioles not abnormally short, leaf segments and carpels nearly the same. Corolla white. I am assured that this must be distinct as a species from P. mollis, but I have not seen them growing together.

Stern (1946):

P.mollis Anderson in Trans.Linn.Soc.London, 12, 282 (1818) ; Bot.Reg.t.474 (1820) ; DC. Prodr. 1,66 (1824) ; Loddiges, Bot.Cab. t. 1263 (1827) ; Baker in Gard. Chron., N. Ser. 21, 829 (1884) ; Huth in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 14, 273 (1891); F. C. Stern in Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. 68, 130 (1943).Syn. P.pubens Sims in Bot. Mag. t. 2264 (1821) ; Reichenbach, Ic. Fl. Germ. 4, t. 124 (1840) ; Lynch in Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. 12, 442 (1890).

Passalaqua & Bernardo (2004)

in The Genus Paeonia in Italy (2004)

Carsten Burkhardt's Web Project Paeonia - The Peony Database

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© 2006 Dr. Carsten Burkhardt