36. P.emodi Wall. ex Royle var. glabrata Hook. f. & Thoms, in Hook. f. Ft. Brit. India, t. 30 (1872); F. C. Stem in Jour n. Roy. Hort. Soc. 68, 129 (1943).

Description. Distinguished from P.emodi only by the smooth and glabrous carpel or carpels.

Distribution. india : Northern Provinces above Naintwar Haines, 2235 (1906) (K) ; Kashmir, N.W. Frontier Province.

P.emodi var. glabrata is another instance of a paeony which differs from another form in the same geographical area by its glabrous carpels.

Mr. W. T. Steam of the Lindley Library informs me that Miss J. Coote, who visited Kashmir in 1937, writes, " I found both species of P.emodi in Kashmir. In Kokamag valley and Tanin glen they grew between 8500 feet and 9200 feet, both species together. They were exactly alike in height, appearance and mode of growth but the hairless carpels when ripe were larger than those which were covered with fine white hairs. The roots appeared to be exactly alike and if I had not known that there were two species I should not have noticed any difference in the plants. The flowers were in bloom at Kokamag from May 20 and in Tanin from about June in Canon Ellacombe grew this variety in his garden at Bitton. Lady Beatrix Stanley reintroduced this variety to gardens in England in 1931 when she sent back from India seed which had been collected in Kashmir. Plants from this seed flowered in 1938 in the open and are hardy in a favoured position. It flowers at the same time as P.emodi and is just as beautiful. The glabrous carpel of this variety is larger on cultivated plants than that of P.emodi, a fact which had also been noticed by Miss Coote among the wild plants in Kashmir. [end page 96]