33. P.lactiflora Pallas, Reise, 3, 286 (1776).

Syn. P.albiflora Pallas, Fl. Ross. Deser. et Ic. 1, ii, 92, t. 84 (1788); Andrews, Bot. ReP.1, t. 64 (1799), 10, t. 612 (1810) ; Willd. L. Sp.Pl. 2, 1222 (1800) ; Aiton, Hort. Kew., Ed. 2, 3, 316 (i8ii) ; Bonpland, Descr. PI. Rar. Malm. t. 47 (1813) ; Bot. Mag. t. 1756 (1815), t. 2888 (1829) ; Bot. Reg. t. 42 (1815), t. 485 (1820), t. 630 (1822), t. 1436 (1831) ; DC. Syst. 1, 392 (1817) ; Sabine in Trans. Hort. Soc. 2, 277-280 (1817) ; Anderson in Trans. Linn. Soc. 12, 256 (1818); Smith in Rees, Cycl. no. 7 (1819); DC. Prodr. 1, 66 (1824); Ledebour, Fl. Ross. 1, 74 (1842) ; Turczaninow, Ft. Baic.-Dahur. I, 89 (1842-45) ; Maximowicz, Prim. Fl. Amur. (in Mem. Acad. Sc. St. Petersb. 9), 29, 468, 480 (1859) ; Regel in Radde, Reisen Sud. Ost.-Sibir. 1, 124 (1861) ; Miquel, Prol. Fl. JaP.197 (1866-67) ; Fr. Schmidt, Reisen Amur Ins. Sachalin {Mem. Acad. Sc. St. Petersb., Ser. 7, 12, no. 2), 32 (1868) ; Franchet & Savatier, Emm. PI. JaP.1, 14 (1874); Baker & Moore in Journ. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 17, 376 (1879) ; Hance in Journ. Bot. 18, 257 (i88o), 20, 257 (1882) ; Baker in Gard. Chron., N. Ser. 21, 779 (1884); Franchet, PI. David, 23 (1884); Forbes & Hemsley in Journ. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 23, 2i (1886); Maximowicz, Emm. PI. Mongol. 31 (1889), et Fl. Tangut. 28 (1889) ; Lynch in Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. 12, 437 (1890) ; Huth in Bull. Herb. Boiss. 5, 1095 (1897) ; Palibin in Acta Horti PetroP.14, 107 (1898) ; Freyn in Oesterr. Bot. Zeit. 1901, P.382 ; Komarov, Fl. Mansh. 2, 224 (1903) ; Finet & Gagnepain in Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 51, 526 (1904), et Contrib. Fl. Asie Or. 1, 223 (1905) ; Terasaki, Nippon Shokubutsu Zufu {.JaP.Bot. III. Album), t. 287 (1933) ; Komarov, Fl. U.R.S.S. 7, 25 (1937) ; F. C. Stern in Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. 68, 128 (1943).* (For further references the reader should consult the Index Londinensis. Under the name P.lactiflora are placed all the wild and cultivated forms of the species which have glabrous carpels. Many of the garden forms have been given varietal epithets, and the two oldest appear to be var. idulis (P.albiflora var.edulis Pursh) and var. sinensis (P.edulis var. sinensis Sims), both of which date from 1815.)P.albiflora var. edulis (Salisb.) Pursh in Donn, Hort. Cantabr., Ed. 8, P.177 (1815). P.albiflora var. fragrans Sabine in Trans. Hort. Soc. 2, 278, t. 18 (1816). P.albiflora var. hirta Regel, Reisen Siiden Ost-Sibir. Radde, Bot. 1 (in Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 34), 125 (1861), et Fl. Ussur.13 (i86a).P.albiflora var. hortensis Makino in Journ. JaP.Bot. 5, no. 9, P.34 (1928). P.albiflora var. purpurea Korshinsky, I.e. 302 (1892). P.albiflora var. spontanea Makino in Journ. JaP.Bot. S, no. 9, P.33 (1928). P.albiflora var. typica Huth in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 14, 265 (1891) ; Korshinsky in Acta Horti PetroP.12, 301 (1892). P.albiflora var Whitleyi Anderson in Trans. Linn. Soc. 12, 259 (i8i8). P.edulis Salisbury, Parad. Land. t. 78 (1805) ; Ann. Gand. 5, t. 265 (1849). P.edulis Reevesiana Paxton, Mag. Bot. 1, 197, c. tab. (1841). P.edulis var. sinensis Sims in Bot. Mag. t. 1768 (1815). P.fragrans (Sabine) Redoute, Choix Fl. 13, t. 106 (1827). P.lactea Pallas, Reise, 3, 321 (1776), nomen tantum. P.lobata Pallas, ibid. 2, 553 (1773), nomen tantum.P.officinalis L. sec. Thunberg, Fl. JaP.230 (1784), pro parte; Loureiro, Fl. Cochinch. 1,343 (1790) ; non L. emend. Willd.P.Reevesiana (Paxt.) London, Hort. Brit. Ed. Nov. Suppl. 601 (1850). P.Whitleyi (Anders.) Hort. ex Garden, 36, 8, c. tab. (1889).

Description. Stem 50-60 cm. high, glabrous, light green flushed with red, bearing two or more flowers. Lower leaves biternate; leaflets entire or occasionally lobed, elliptic to lanceolate, cuneate at the base, apex acute to acuminate, more rarely rounded and apiculate, dark green and glabrous above except for minute hairs along the nerves, lighter green and glabrous or with short hairs along the nerves below, margin papillose and rough to the touch. Flower 7-10 cm. across, sweetly scented. Petals obovate, white, 3-4-5 cm. long, 2-3 cm. wide. Stamens about 1.5 cm. long, filaments yellow (?), anthers yellow. Carpels 4-5, glabrous, stigma pink. Follicles about 2 cm. long.

Distribution. siberia : Amur River, Angustinowicz (K) ; Blagowjestschensk, Kara 142 (K) ; Nertschenk, Herb. W. Besser (K), Kara ifo (K) ; Dahuria, Turczaninow (K) ; Irkutsk, Herb. W. Besser (K) ; Ingoda, Turczaninow (K) ;[end page 91] Tartary, Hartland 77 (K) ; Dahuria, S.E. side Lake Baikal, Kara 170 (E). manchuria : Prov. Austro-Ussuriensis, Suifun River, Komaroo 653 (K) ; between Mukden and Tung-che-shien, James (K) ; between Tung-che-shien and Maor Shan, Yaloo River, James (K) ; St. Olgae on Wai-Fudin River, Maximowia. anno 1860 (K) ; Sarhu-Yingpan, 150 miles E. of Moohan, Webster 8 (K) ; Shengking Prov., E. of Fooling, Ross 354 (K) ; on coast, lat. 44°-45° N., Wilford 1118 (K) ; journey to Lake Hanka and Manchuria, Bohnhqf'24 (K). inner mongolia : Muniula or Inphan, Przewalski (K). china : Ghihii, Ghienshan, Ross 426, 490 (K) ; Wutaishan, Hancock 80 (K), Meyer 1142 (K), Mollendorjf 13 (K), Limpricht 2540 (K) ; Gehol, Nan-ta-chan, David 1850 (P). Shansi, Tong-ting-chan, Licent 1387 (K) ; Tao t'eou, Licent 2061, soy (K). tibet : Prov. ofBatang, Soulie (P).

P.lactiflora has been known for many years as P.albiflora (1788) but apparently Pallas described it in 1776 under the name of P.lactiflora, so the earlier name must stand. The outstanding characters of this paeony are its habit of carrying more than one flower on a stem, and its long leaflets about two to three times as long as they are broad. Huth draws attention to a character, not found on any other paeony, " that the margins of the leaves are rough to the touch with white serrate papillae easily seen through a lens." P.lactiflora is a diploid and according to Stebbins (1939) all the garden forms he examined were diploids.

Some garden specimens in the herbarium at Kew have carpels which are somewhat hairy but no wild specimens that I have seen have such carpels. Bunge (1834) gives a short description of such plants which he says were found in gardens and accords them the varietal name trichocarpa.

P.lactiflora has a wide distribution in Siberia, Mongolia and the northern parts of Manchuria, Tibet and China. According to Makino and Nemoto it is not a native of Japan. It has been in cultivation in Europe for a great number of years and many garden varieties have been produced. P.albiflora var. Humei was imported from China in 1810 by Sir A. Hume. The variety Whit-leyi was obtained from China in 1808 by R. Whit-ley, a nurseryman of Ful-ham.

To this species belong the many garden forms usually known as Chinese paeonies. They are of the easiest cultivation in the garden where they will grow some 2 to 3 feet high and flower in June. The flowers have a sweet scent. [end page 92]