Paeonia spp. Paeoniaceae

Vernacular names: Paeony (En); Pivoine (Fr); Pfingstrose (Ge); Peonia (It)

Pharmaceutical and trade names of the flowers: Paeonia flos, Flores Paeoniae (Latin); Peony flowers (En); Fleurs de Pivoine (Fr); Pfingstrosenblüten (Ge)

Pharmaceutical and trade names of the roots: Paeoniae radix, Radix Paeoniae (Latin); Peony roots (En); Racine de Pivoine (Fr); Pfingstrosenwurzeln (Ge); Raiz de Peonia (Sp)

The flowers and roots of several Paeonia species are used within Europe. Although traded as P. officinalis, plant material is often derived from other paeony species such as P. peregrina and P. mascula. P. officinalis is a western and south-western European species ranging eastwards to Albania; P. mascula ranges from central France to north Africa, and eastwards to the Caucasus, Iraq and Iran; P. peregrina is limited to the eastern Mediterranean region, the Balkans and Asia Minor.

Özhatay et al. (1997) report wild-collection of roots and flowers of P. mascula and P. peregrina in several regions of Turkey. Between 500 and 1000kg of plant material from paeonies, largely made up of roots, are destined for export annually from Turkey, above all to Germany. Although collecting of flowers is per se more of a sustainable type of harvest than root collection, the flowers are of such high commercial value that over-exploitation may be occurring.

Özhatay et al. report declines in population sizes, as a result of over-collection of roots. Both P. mascula and P. peregrina are rare in Turkey, according to Özhatay et al. (1997), who class Paeonia spp. as among the 10 most-threatened medicinal species or genera in trade in Turkey.

In 1995, 1500kg of P. peregrina roots were authorised for collection from Bulgaria, but in 1996 only 1000kg were authorised. The quotas for flowers were 6300kg and 7550kg for the same years, respectively. Most of the flowers were for export, the roots only for domestic consumption within Bulgaria.

Németh (1997) lists P. officinalis among some 40 particularly threatened medicinal and aromatic plant species in Hungary and (Bernáth, 1996) reports it to be vulnerable to collection, which is subject to permission.

In France, collection and trade of any parts of P. officinalis is subject to authorisation (Goi et al., 1997).

In Romania, P. mascula is considered to be endangered, and both P. officinalis and P. peregrina are classified as Vulnerable (WCMC, 1998).

In Albania, Paeonia is listed in the Order dated 20 May 1997, in accordance with Law No. 7722 of 1993 (see legislation chapter).