Peonies

Peonies (genus Paeonia, Paeoniaceae family) are found only in the North hemisphere. About 40 species are now registered, which can be found in China, Caucasus, and Mediterranean basin. Two species are from the West USA.

Most of peonies species are endemic and have a very limited geographic distribution area. They are often endangered by destruction of their environment and uprooting for medicinal use or for collectors. So it is necessary to protect it. French flora peonies are registered on the national list of protected species.

The Paeonia name finds its origin in Greek mythology. Paeon was Olympus gods’ medical man. In the Odyssey, Homere tells that Paeon would have healed Apollo from a wound made by Hercules, using the plant that is now called after him.

Peonies have been known since Antiquity. They are mentioned in the first treatise on medicine of the 1^st century AD, as they were known to heal epilepsy. Only used as medicines until the Middle Ages, the first double flowered cultivars appeared in the late 16^th century and are still cultivated nowadays.

In China, peony has been cultivated for more than 1 500 years. The tree-like peony (Paeonia x suffruticosa) has as nickname "the King of Flowers", it is the national symbol. The indigenous treelike or herbaceous species are still often used in traditional pharmacopoeia.

The Lyon Botanical Garden’s collection represents well the various peonies’ aspects. The botanical taxons contains treelike species (P. delavayi, P. ludlowii, P. ostii…) all from China, herbaceous species from the Mediterranean basin (P. broteroi, P. coriacea, P. morisii…) from Caucasus (P. caucasica, P. mlokosewitschii, P. wittmanniana var. macrophylla…) and from Asia (P. anomala, P. lactiflora, P. veitchii…)

The Paeonia x suffruticosa are supposed to be complex crossbreeds between several Chinese indigenous species (P. jishanensis, P. ostii, P. morisii…). The historical P. x suffruticosa collection gathers the first cultivars that were introduced in China in the late 18^th century (Papaveracea, Purpurea, Rosea Plena…) and in the middle of the 19^th century (Confucius, Jewel of Chusan, Osiris…). As a result of sowing the Chinese cultivars, the first European selections are also represented by cultivars Elisabeth, Hissiana, Rinzii…

Some cultivars (Madame Chabanne, Madame René Gérard) are supposed to be Lyon Botanical Garden’s productions. The first trace of the treelike peonies collection goes back to 1931. Some of these plants still exist today. The collection also have some Japanese cultivars, introduced in France in the late 19^th century and the early 20^th century (Adzuma Nishiki, Germania, Shivunanobori).

The Paeonia x lemoinei, treelike too, are crossbreeds between P. suffruticosa and P. delavayi or P. delavayi var. lutea. They have been obtained since 1907 a the Paris Natural History Museum and then by the horticulturist Victor Lemoine thanks to the introduction, a few years before, of P. delavayi, discovered in China in 1883.

Lyon Botanical Garden’s collection contains most of these first productions, the more remarkable are Mine d’Or, Sang Lorrain, Souvenir du Professeur Maxime Cornu…

The herbaceous peonies collection contains several European cultivars that appeared in the gardens near 1576 (P. officinalis, Alba Plena, Rubra Plena…) and especially the double-flowered ("Chinese" peonies) and simple-flowered ("Japanese" peonies) balmy P. lactiflora.

These cultivars are in particular represented by productions of French horticulturists of the 19^th and the early 20^th century (Calot, Crousse, Guérin, Rivière…). A group of recent American selections completes this collection.

Interspecific hybrids are crossbreeds between various botanical species. They have been obtained since the 20^th century, following up Lemoine’s work, then Saunders’ in the USA. These hybrids can be mostly characterised by an earlier flowering than the one of the cultivars of P. lactiflora. Among the most interesting we can cite Avant Garde, Early Scout, Requiem.

These collections are going on their enrichment. The next introductions will mainly centre on the research of missing botanical taxons, historical cultivars of Paeonia x suffruticosa and intersection hybrids (crossbreeds between a herbaceous and a treelike peony).