Paeonia clusii Stern

 

Paeonia clusii is a relatively low (25–50 cm) species of herbaceous peony with scented, white or pink flowers of up to 12 cm in diameter. In the wild, the species can only be found on the islands of Crete and Karpathos (subsp. clusii), and Rhodes (subsp. rhodia). It has pinkish-purple stem up to 30 cm long and glaucous dissected leaves. P. clusii blooms in mid-spring.

Description

Paeonia clusii is a perennial, herbaceous plant of 25–50 cm high. Both diploid (2n=10) and tetraploid (2n=20) specimens have been found.

Root, stems and leaves

The main roots are slightly tuberous, up to 2½ cm wide, with thinner carrot-shaped side roots. The stems are mostly tinged purple, with several (up to nine) scales at their base. Leaves are split into three sets of leaflets, themselves further divided into twenty three to forty eight, 2½–4½ cm wide, ovate to lanceolate (subspecies rhodia) or to ninety five lanceolate to linear, ½–3¼ cm wide, segments (in the typical subspecies). The leaf is mostly hairless, but sometimes the lower surface carries a few hairs.

Flower, fruit and seed

The flowers are set individually at the tip of the stems, and are subtended by one or two bracts that look like small segmented leaves. There are three or four rounded sepals, green but purple around the margin, and with a rounded tip. Within are seven white or pink petals of 4–5 cm long and 2½–4 cm wide. The many stamens consist of purple filaments topped by yellow anthers. The disk that encircle the carpels is ½–1 mm high and covered in soft hair. Two to four (or rarely only one) red carpels are covered in soft, white, 2–2½ mm long hairs and topped by an almost seated flattened, recurving, red stigma 1½–2 mm wide. Each carpel later develops into an ellipsoid fruit called a follicle, that is 3½–4 cm long and about 1½ cm wide, and which is curved down when ripe, and contains oval black seeds of 8 mm long and 5 mm in diameter.

Differences between the subspecies

Subspecies rhodia is characterised by twenty three to forty eight, ovate to lanceolate leaf segments, each between 2½ and 4½ cm wide. Subspecies clusii has between twenty three and ninety five leaf segments in the lower leaves. The segments are lanceolate to linear, each usually no more than 2⅔ cm wide, but rare exceptions to 3¼ cm.

 

Paeonia clusii - Wikipedia

Paeonia clusii Stern | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science