Francesco Cupani
An engraving (Fig. 14) of Paeonia hyemalis pumila, Rosae rubrae in some copies of Francesco Cupani’s posthumus and extremely rare Panphyton Siculum (1713) represents the dwarf Sicilian peony (now P. mascula subsp. russi) named P. russi by Bivona-Bernardi in 1816. This central Mediterranean insular species occurs in western Greece (Fig. 23).
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William T. Stearn and Peter H. Davis 1984
The Franciscan monk, Francesco Cupani, in his Hortus Catholicus seu . . . Principis Catholicae, mentions four paeonies as being grown in the botanic garden established at Misilmeri, near Palermo, by the Prince of Cattolica, Giuseppe de Bosco. One of them, Poeonia hyemalis, pumila, Rosae rubrae monoflore, was illustrated later in his posthumous Panphyton Siculum (1713), of which less than twenty copies are known, and proves to be P.Russi. The figure reproduced on this page is the earliest record of this species.
Stern 1946