(2004)  Page(s) 119, 123.  
 
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. sterniana (H.R. Fletcher) J.J. Halda, Acta Musei Richnoviensis 4 (2):29 (1997).
P. sterniana H.R. Fletcher in Journal of the Horticultural Society (London) 134:327 (1959).
Epithet: sterniana, after Frederick Claude Stern (1884-1967), an enthusiastic collector and gardener.
Description: Differs from subsp. emodi in having smaller, solitary flowers (up to 8 cm or 3 in. across), and deeply lobed and toothed leaflets. Flowering April to June.
Distribution: Southeastern Tibet in Kongbo, Tamnyen, and Gyala, growing among shrubs in stony places, and in shady oak forest, at altitudes from 2600 to 3000 m (8530 to 9900 ft.).
Comment: I know this plant only from a herbarium specimen. It is very closely related to Paeonia emodi. Very interesting are Fletcher's (1959) notes:
On 21 July 1938, Mr. Frank Ludlow and Dr. George Taylor were collecting in the Tsangpo Valley in the Kongbo Province of South-East tibet. Near Gyala, under the dense shade of Quercus ilex forest, they stopped for a wayside lunch and soon realized that they were sitting on a fruiting peony. The fruits were green and immature and although flowers were not to be seen, the natives affirmed that these were white. Two months later, when Ludlow and taylor returned to collect mature fruits, they found that all the seeds had been shed. Nine years later, on 18 April 1947, Mr. Ludlow and Colonel H.H. Elliot, at a place called Tamnyen, found the plant again, just coming into flower, and a week later, 24 April, they gathered beautiful flowering specimens at the spot where Ludlow and Taylor had found it originally in 1938. As the natives had affirmed, the flowers were white. Finally, at Tamnyen, on 5 August 1947, Ludlow and Elliot collected mature indigo-blue seeds from the bright red capsules.

(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.

(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...

(2004)  Page(s) 195.  
 
Most species are impossible to identify as dormant plants or seeds. The distinctive red color and pungent odor of the roots of Paeonia emodi are an exception to this rule, but hybrids may share these distinctions.

(2004)  Page(s) 201.  
 
P. emodi....is one of the true beauties of the genus and among the tallest herbaceous peonies. ..It is a Himalayan species that may prove hardy in a protectednorthern spot, but is far more satisfactory in warm-temperate climates where it is recommended. The typical form has distinctive red, odd smelling roots. It appreciates a shaded woodland spot. Stern suggests growing this in a north-facing location so that its early shoots are less like to be damaged by frost and it will also have protection from cold spring winds. Ease of growth: Easy to experienced, depending on climate. Good drainage and semi-woodland conditions seem best....Hardiness: Temperate or mild. Treated as a subtropical alpine, this species does fine where there are cooler summers, milder winters, snow cover, and moderation overall. Supposedly collections from higher elevations have greater hardiness, but perhaps trade this for less heat tolerance. Does less well in areas with hot summers, severe winters, and lack of snow cover such as the U.S. Midwest.

(2004)  Page(s) 28.  
 
Relatively narrow petals are found in P. mairei.

(2004)  Page(s) 200.  
 
P. mairei. A Chinese species related to the above [P. obovata] and benefiting from new imports. It is now becoming more commonly and freely available. It has not been widely grown or appreciated, and it has few extra points of interest. The flowers are various shades of rose to bright pink. this species is primarily for the collector, but it may have unseen secrets for hybridizers to try their hands....ease of growth: Easy and should be grown as the above. Tolerates some shade and damp soils. Hardiness: Temperate, but probably slightly less tolerant of extremes than the closely related Paeonia obovata as it comes from central China.

(2004)  Page(s) 109-110, 113.  Includes photo(s).
 
p. 109: Figure 30. Leaves of Paeonia mairei...
p. 110: P. mairei Léveillé in Bulletin de geographie botanique (Le mans) 25:42 (1915).
P. bifurcata Schipczinski in Notulae systematicae ex herbario horti botanici petropolianae 1:3 (1920).
P. oxypetala Handel-Mazzetti in Anzeiger der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien 57:265 (1920).
P. mairei f. oxypetala (Handel-Mazzetti) Fang, Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica 7 (4): 307 (1958).
Epithet: mairei, after René Charles Joseph Ernest Maire (1878-1949), a French botanist.
Description: Stem to 1 m (3 ft.) tall, glabrous. lower leaves biternate, sometimes with lateral leaflets bifurcate; leaflets elliptic or obovate-elliptic, cuneate to long-cuneate at the base, long-acuminate to caudate at the apex, 12-20 x 3-8 cm (4.75-8 x 1-3 in.), dark green above, paler below, glabrous, of thin papery texture. Flowers 8-12 cm (3-4.75 in.) across. Petals rose, obovate to obovate-elliptic, rounded at the apex. Stamens 15-20 mm long, filaments purplish, anthers yellow. Carpels 2-2.5 cm (0.75-1 in.) long, conical in the lower part, attenuated upward to the stigma, densely covered with a silky tomentum of short golden-brown hairs, or glabrous. Flowering May to June. 2n = 10.
Distribution: China, in the provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan, growing in open woodland and on riverbanks at altitudes from 800 to 3500 m (2640 to 11,480 ft.).
Comment: Our collections from Sichuan (Minya Gonka JJH9008045) and Yunnan (Haba Shan JJH9007004, Beima Shan JJH90070015) are more or less uniform, abit variable in color of corolla, ranging from pale pink to rose-pink. this taxon is not very common in cultivation, but it grows and flowers well in rather shady sites. The plant known as forma oxypetala is only a variant with acute, dentate petals; such individuals co-occur with the type.



p. 114: [drawing] Paeonia mairei

(2004)  Page(s) 106-109.  Includes photo(s).
 
P. obovata Maximowicz, Primitiae Florae Amurensis 29 (1859).
Epithet: obovata, "obovate", referring to the shape of the terminal leaflet.
Key to the subspecies of P. obovata
Larger, to 70 cm (28 in.), leaves sparsely villow below, flowers as for species....Subsp. obovata
Smaller, to 50 cm (20 in.), leaves glabrous, flower white.....Subsp. japonica

P. obovata subsp. obovata

Description: Stem 40-70 cm (16-28 in.) tall, glabrous. Lower leaves biternate; leaflets unequal, terminal usually obovate, laterals broadly oval or oblong, all shortly acuminate at the apex, cuneate or widely cuneate at the base, mostly 5-12 x 3.5-7 cm (2-4.75 x 1.4-2.75 in.), in fruit up to 15 x 9 cm (6 x 3.5 in.), thinly papery, dark green and glabrous above, glaucous and sparsely villous below. Flowers white to rose-purple, up to 8 cm (3 in.) across. Stamens 17 mm long, filaments white or rose, anthers yellow. Carpels two or three, glabrous, 2 cm (0.75 in.) long, attenuated, stigma conspicious, 5 mm across. Follicles 30-35 mm long. 2n = 10, 20.
Distribution: Russia, in the Far East (Udsk, Ussuri, and Zee-Buryat.), the Amur region, Manchuria, the Kurile Islands, and Sakhalin; Korea; China, provices of Shanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan; and Japan. It grows in oak, birch, and mixed forests, on open slopes, and on riverbanks up to 2000 m (6600 ft.) elevation.

(2004)  Page(s) 201.  
 
Subspecies sterniana, a smaller version of subsp. emodi, is presumably similar [in ease of growth], but almost unknown in cultivation.