The Caucasian Representatives of the Genus Paeonia L.

L.M. Kemularia-Nathadse, Trudy Tiflis. Botan. Sada 1961

General Conclusions

1. Peonies had been firstly mentioned by the Greek philosopher Theophrast in 270-370 B.C.; but the scientific description of the genus Paeonia L. had been presumably firstly made by Linné in his "Species plantarum", in which Paeonia officinalis L. with its two varieties mascula and femina were presented. Afterwards, the latter varieties were described by Miller, as independent species.

2. As motherland of the genus Paeonia L. we consider not only China, but the territory

of Ancient Katasia and Caucasus.

3. Existing classifications of the genus paeonia L. can't be accepted by us as a whole, so we submit here a new classification worked out on a base of the method of evolutional serieses by V. L. Komarov. Moreover, we add two new sections Flavonia and Sternia (Scheme I) to those three sections which are already widely recognized.

4. As the primitive characters for species of the genus Paeonia L. we consider the presence of yellow pigment flavone in petals, absence of pubescence (upon ovaries, fruits, leaves), long cone-shaped pendent or strongly spreading fruits, characteristics of a staminodal disk and the shrubby vital form.

5. The evolution of the genus Paeonia L.'s species had been following, mainly, the mesophyllous line (Sect. Moutan, Sect. Flavonia, Sect. Paeon, Sect. Onaepia), and the slightly evinced xerophyllous line is revealed in forming steppe species only, which pertain to mesophyllous variants (Sect. Sternia).

6. The genus Paeonia L. is a typical genus of the "Chinese-Himalaean bonds" for Caucasus; the Caucasian species from the section Flavonia evince close affinity with the Chinese and himalaen species from the same section.

7. In Caucasus, the genus Paeonia L. is represented by three sections (Flavonia, Paeon and Sternia), five serieses and thirteen species; moreover, two serieses and five species are related with the section Flavonia, one series and four species are comprised by the section Paeon, and the section Sternia comprised two serieses and four species.

8. The study of Caucasian peonies had been presumably started in 1846, when, in London, materials about a yellow-flowered peony from Abchazia with the name P. Wittmanniana Hartwiss were published.

9. Two different peonies with the same name P. Wittmanniana had been described by different authors on a base of samples, collected by the same collector in different places.

10. In accordance with the priority regulations the name P. Wittmanniana should be retained for a peony with downy fruits, from Abchazia, described by Hartwiss. As to the species of Steven, 'its name should be changed.

11. P. tomentosa (Lomak.) N. Busch, a plant from Talish and the North Iran, should not be joined with P. Mlokosewitschii Lomak,, which is a plant from a forest of the Lagodekhsky gorge and Dagestan; quite the same, it is not correct to consider P. tomentosa (Lomak.) N. Busch a synonym of P. Wittmanniana Hartwiss, a species growing in Abchazia.

12. A red-blossommed peony, named P. caucasica N. Schipcz., was found out to be heterogeneous and, as a result, two new species have been identified by us, such as P. lagodechiana from the Lagodechy gorge and P. Ruprechtiana from the regions bordering with Imeretia and Kartii (Kharagoulsk and Borjomi).

13 The P. tenuifolia L. with manifold dissected leaf-lobes occurred to be heterogeneous also; as it was found out there are three species, such as P. Bieberteiniana Rupr., P. carthalinica Ketz. and P. Majko Ketz. growing in Caucasus, not to say about the Lynnejt species.

14. Taking into consideration morphological features and ecologic conditions for the Caucasian representatives of the genus Paeonia L., the kindred relations between them may be represented in a way as follows: from the Caucasian species belonging to the sect. Flavonia, we consider as the most ancient and closest to the ancestral species, which had been propagating throughout tretiary forests of Caucasus, P.. macrophylla from shady forests of Adjaria, and the youngest species is presumed by us to be P. Mlokosewitschii from Lagodechy and Dagestan. From the section Paeon, as the closest to ancestral species. P. | Ruprechtiana and as the youngest species, P. Lagodechiana. areconSidered by us, | respectively. All representatives of the section Sternia are of young origin and | are connected with the steppe flora formation of Caucasus. Kindred relations between Caucasian peonies are represented by scheme 2.

15. After studying of a history of the Caucasian flora in respect of the genus Paeonia L. on the whole has been carried by us, we may conclude that the presence of species, which are closely related with the Chinese-Himalaen species, in the forests of TransCaucasus, Kolchida and Talish in particular, signifies that the forests abovementioned represent some fragments of the ancient flora, which might have been occupying the territory of Caucasus, the South Europe and even the North Africa in the tretiary period or even maybe quite earlier, and which relics have been remained most unchanged in the South-East Asia nowadays.