Multisiliqua. PEONIA OSFICINALIS COMMON PEONY. Class XIII. POLYANDRIA. Order II. DIGYNIA. Gen. Char. Calyx five-leaved. Cap Spe. Char. Leaves double pinnate, sub-lobed. Leaflets oblong, veined underneath. The root is perennial, large, knobby, externally brown, internally white, and compact; the stalks rise from two to three feet in height, which are thick, smooth, succulent and branched; the leaves are pinnated, or cut into lobes, which are oblong and few, terminated by an odd one; the flowers terminal, solitary and red; the calyx is composed of five unequal, ovate, concave leaves; the corolla generally consists of five large petals, which are roundish and concave; the filaments are about thirty, which are short, slender, and supporting ob-. long quadrangular anthers; germens two, ovate, hairy, and erect; styles none; stigmas hooked; capsules two, which are hairy, oblong, inclining outwardly, single-celled, single-valved, and containing numerous small seeds. The Peony is a native of Switzerland, where it was esteemed very highly on account of its supposed medical virtues, and for which purpose it was extensively cultivated in various parts of that country; from Switzerland it was introduced into Europe as an ornament to the flower garden, and from Europe into the United States, where it has now become naturalized, and is found growing wild in all its beauty |