Book (2011) Page(s) 152-153. Includes photo(s). Paeonia emodi Wall. ex Royle Family name: Paeoniaceae Local Name / English Name: Mamaikh / HImalayan peony Flowering Period: April - May Status: Common Part Used: Rhizomes, roots, and seeds Habit/Habitat: A small perennial gergarious herb, found in humus soil. Distribution: Pakistan: Dir, Chitral, Hazara, Murree, Kaghan, and Naran. World: India, eastern Afghanistan. Description: A small perennial herb. Leaves biternate or ternate, glabrous; lamina pale on undersurface, decurrent; median segment deeply 3-incised, the lateral segments elliptic-lanceolate or lanceolate. Flowers solitary, axillary; three to five seeds, large, globose-ovoid, minuely rugose, brown-black, bright scarlet when unripe (Fig. 3.64). Medicinal Uses: Collection: Tubers are collected by young childrens and women 20-40 years old, washed in water 2-3 times, and dried for 15-20 days in the shade. Recipes: 100g of dried tubers is ground into a fine powder and cooked in desighee. This paste is used to cure rheumatism ackaches and as a tonic. For children: 1 tsp (5 mL) and 1 cup (250 mL) of paste (at one time) is given in the morning for 10-20 days. For adults, 1 cup (250 mL) of paste (at one time) is given once daily for 10-.20 days. Diseases Cured: Rheumatism and backache; also used as a tonic. Phytochemicals: Oxalic acid, tannins, paeoninol and paeonin C, oligostilbene and monoterpene galctoside, 4-hydoxybenzoic acid 3, gallic acid 4, and methyl gallate...
Book (2011) Page(s) 36-37. Includes photo(s). Paeonia emodi Wall. ex Royle., Ill. bot. Himal. Mts 57 (1834). Perennials. Root carrot-shaped, up to 2.5 cm in diameter. Stems up to 60 cm tall. Lower leaves biternate, with some or all of the 9 leaflets segmented; leaflets and/or leaf segments 15-27, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 7-14 cm long, 1.5-3.8 cm broad, glabrous or with spare bristles along veins above, always glabrous beneth. Flowers mostly 2-3 on a stem. Involucrate bracts 3-4, leaflike. Sepals 3-4, green, ovate-orbicular to orbicular, all caudate at the apex. Petals white, 8-10, obovate, often bilobate, caa. 4 cm long, ca. 3 cm broad. Filaments yellow; anthers yellow. Disk pale pink, waved. Carpels single or 2, green, tomentose with hairs 1-2 mm long or glabrous; styles absent or up to 1 mm long; stigmas pink. Follicles long-ovoid or ellipsoid, 2-3.5 cm long, 1.2-1.5 cm in diameter. Seeds brown-black, oblong, 7-9 mm long, 3.5-6 mm in diameter. Flowering from May to early June; fruiting from July to August. Chromosome number 2n = 10, 20. Growing in bushes on dry or rocky slopes at altitudes from 1,600 m to 3,000 m. Distributed in the western Himalayas and NE part of the Hindu Kush: S Tibet, N India, Nepal, N Pakistan and NE Afghanistan.
Book (2011) Page(s) 449. P. emodi Royle. Illustration: Botanical Magazine. 5719 (1868); Coventry, Wild flowers of Kashmir 1:t.10 (1923); Stern, Study of Paeonia, t. facing 94 (1946); Brickell (ed.) RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants, 762 (2003). Stem hairless, 30-75 cm, with 2-4 flowers. Leaves 5-7. Lower leaves twice divided into 3, with c. 9 narrowly elliptic, acuminate segments, wedge-shaped and united by threes at bases, hairless except for minute hairs along main veins above. Flowers 8-12 cm across, petals outspread, white petals. Filaments yellow. Carpel 1 (very rarely 2), hairy (var. emodi) or hairless (var. glabrata J.D. Hooker & Thomson). W. Himalaya..Spring.
Book (2010) Page(s) 122. Paeonia sterniana....is closely related to P. emodi. They share a number of characters: the roots are carrot-shaped; sepals all or mostly caudate at the apex; leaflets mostly or all segmented; petals white; and plants entirely glabrous except for the carpels, which are mostly pubescent in P. emodi but glabrous in P. sterniana. Nevertheless, these two species distincly differ from each other. Paeonia emodi often has two or three flowers on a stem, whereas P. sterniana nearly always has a single flower (occasionally two) and sometimes one or two axillary sterile buds on a stem. The carpels are single (93%), rarely two (7%) per flower, and nearly always tomentose in P. emodi, whereas there are two to four, always glabrous carpels in P. sterniana...
Book (2010) Page(s) 118-122. Includes photo(s). Hooker & Thomson (1875) described a form of Paeonia emodi with glabrous carpels as the variety glabrata.....pubescent or glabrous carpels reflect another example of polymorphism in carpel character for Paeonia emodi. Paeonia emodi most resembles P. anomala, P. sterniana and P. lactiflora, but it deffers from all of these species in having the carpels mostly single (92.6%), rarely two (7.4%). In addition it differs from P. lactiflora in having leaf margin smooth (rather than cartilaginous thickened and dentate-spinose) and the carpels mostly tomentose....Paeonia emodi differs from P. anomala in having the leaflets/leaf segments no more than 30 in number (as opposed to 70 to 100), and from P. sterniana in having nearly always multiple flowers per stem (rather than nearly always solitary) and the carpels mostly tomentose (rather than glabrous)....
Book (2005) Page(s) 26. Among the most important conclusions of Sang's [phylogenetic] analysis is that Paeonia emodi appears to be a natural hybrid between P. veitchii and P. lactiflora...
Book (2005) Page(s) 44-45. Includes photo(s). The Himalayan peony, Paeonia emodi, is an aristocratic perennial with large, pure white flowers. It grows naturally in Northwest India, Kashmir, western Nepal, North Pakistan and Tibet (Xizang) (Hong de Yuan et al, 2001). There is a lot of confusion about the plant in the nursery trade and many of the plants that are sold as Paeonia emodi are actually hybrids with P. veitchii ('Early Windflower' or 'Late Windflower'). The true P. emodi is a much bigger plant, which can be distinguished by having larger flowers and broader leaflets, but the difference is sometimes difficult to appreciate until you have seen the Himalayan peony "in the flesh". It grows to a height of 80 cm (32 in.) and has a similar spread, with glabrous stems and leaves. The foliage is bronze coloured when it appears in the spring, turning dark green as the season progresses. The leaves have up to 15 oblong-elliptic or oblong-lanceolate leaflets with acuminate tips and decurrent leaf blades. Paeonia emodi has 2-4 flowers, which are held elegantly on the tall stems and measure 8-12 cm (3.1-4.7 in.). They have 3 rounded sepals, two of which have a leafy appendage. Young flowers are cone-shaped when they open, but become cup-shaped as they mature, with pure white, obovate petals. The flowers are unusual because they have a single (rarely 2) greenish yellow carpel, which is covered with stiff yellow hairs and has an erect, greenish white style. The anthers are approximately 1 cm (0.4 in.) long and supported by yellow filaments. It flowers from April to may (mid to late spring) and produces black seeds. It is diploid (2N=10). The buds are more elongated than those of most other species and start to develop early in the season. The majority of early authors suggested that Paeonia emodi is rather delicate and should be planted beneath deciduous trees. However this is at variance with how it grows in nature and plants at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden and royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in England, grow happily in exposed situations. It needs well-drained soil and will suffer from crown rot if it becomes waterlogged.
Book (2004) Page(s) 348. Paeonia emodi Wall. ex Royle Habitat North-western Himalayas, from Kashmir to Kumaon at 2000-3000m. Classical and common names Unani: Ood Saleeb, Ood Gharqi, Phaavaania. (National Formulary of Unani Medicine also equated Ood Salib with Orchis latifolia, which is a different drug - Saalab misri, Khusyat-us-Saalab.) English: Himalayan peony. Parts used Root. Dose 1-3 g (toxic in higher doses). Classical use Habb-e-Ood Saleeb is a reputed Unani medicine, prescribed in epilepsy, hysteria, paralysis, convulsions, insanity, spleen and bladder. The drug was imported into India from the Mediterranean region in the heyday of Unani medicine. Active principles and pharmacology Root oil gave a mixture of n-alkenes, beta-amyrin, butyrospermol, cycloartenol, lupeol, 24-methylenecycloartenol, cholesterol, campesterol, sitosterol; octanoic, decanoic, lauric, myristic, myristoleic, palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic acids, and ethyl gallate. Salicylaldehyde is the chief component of the essential oil.
Book (2004) Page(s) 119-121. Includes photo(s). P. emodi Wallich ex Royle, Illustrations of the Botany of the Himalayan Mountains 57 (1834). P. anomala var. emodi (Wallich) Huth in Botanische Jahrbücher 14:269 (1891). P. officinalis Linnaeus, sec. Hooker f. & Thomson, Flora Indica 60 (1855), non Linnaeus emend. Willdenow. P. emodi f. glabrata (Hooker f. & Thomson) H. Hara in H. Hara, A.O. Charter, and H.J. Williams, An Ennumeration of Flowering Plants of Nepal 2:23 (1979). Epithet: Emodos, according to Prolemy (ca. 150 C.E.), is the easternmost part of the Central Asian Ranges - Paropamisos, Imaos, and Emodos.
Key to the subspecies of P. emodi Flowers larger 7.5-10 cm (3-4 in.) across; leaflets entire or divided into two or three terminal leaflets.....Subsp. emodi Flowers smaller, up to 7.5 cm (3 in.) across, leaflets more deeply lobed and toothed....Subsp. sterniana
P. emodi subsp. emodi Description: Stem 30-100 cm (12-40 in.) tall, glabrous, light green, bearing one to four flowers. Lower leaves biternate; leaflets usually decurrent and confluent at the base, entire or often deeply divided into two, or the terminal leaflet into three segments, leaflets or segments elliptic, narrowed to the base and to the acuminate apex, 10-18 x 1.5-6 cm (4-7 x 0.6-2.4 in.), dark green and glabrous above, only minutely puberulous along the veins, sometimes lighter green and glabrous below. Flowers 8-13 cm (3-5 in.) across. Petals obovate, shiny white. Stamens 15-20 mm long, filaments and anthers yellow. Carpel usually one, densely hispid, hairs yellowish. Follicles 25-27 mm long. Flowering April to June. 2n=10. Distribution: India in the western Himalayas and Kashmir; Pakistan in the Chitral region. It grows in open woodland, on riverbanks, and in subalpine pastures at 1200 to 3200 m (3,960 to 10,270 ft.) Comment: We collected this plant several times in Pakistan and India. The plant illustrated is a very vigorous form, almost 1 m (3 ft.) tall, from the Gharwal Himal (JJH820736). Others, from Chitral (JJH840945), JJH8409102), are much shorter, with smaller flowers. There are reports of forms that do well in the cold climate of eastern Canada, but lower-elevation collections may prove less cold hardy. Some writers identify a variety or forma glabrata; however, I have found that glabrous individuals are frequent in every population examined.
Book (2004) Page(s) 28-31. Includes photo(s). p. 28: ...several flowers per stem are borne by some woody species and the herbaceous species Paenia emodi, P. lactiflora, and P. veitchii.....The carpels are free to the base. Their numbers varies from one in Paeonia emodi.... p. 29: Figure 11. Paeonia mature follicles.....4. P. emodi... p. 30: Peony seeds...regularly ovate, as in P. emodi p. 31: Figure 12...Paeonia seeds, with detail of seed surface. ...4. P. emodi...
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