(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.

(2011)  Page(s) 44-47.  Includes photo(s).
 
Paeonia obovata Maxim., Prim. Fl. amur. 29 (1859).
Paeonia japonica (Makino) Miyabe & Takeda; P. oreogeton S. Moore; P. vernalis Mandl.
Herbs perennial, 30-70 cm tall. Roots thick, carrot-shaped. Caudex usually short, 2-8 cm long. Stems often single, always single, glabrous. Lower leaves spreading or ascending, biternate; leaflets 9, entire, obovate, cuneate at the base, rounded or acute at the apex, 5-20 cm long, 4-14 cm wide, glabrous above, glabrous to densely hispid beneath. Flowers solitary, terminal. Involucrate bracts 1 or 2, leaf-like, rarely lacking. Sepals 2-4, but mostly 3, mostly rounded at the apex. Petals 4-7, spreading or incurved, white, rose, pink-red, red, purple-red, or rarely white with pinkish base or margins, obovate, 3-5.5 cm long, 1.8-2.8 cm wide. Filaments white, whitish-yellow, or purple below but white above to entirely purple; anthers yellow, orange-red or dark purple. Disk yellow, waved, 1-1.5 mm high. Carpels mostly 2 or 3, always glabrous; styles 2-5 mm long; stigmas red. Follicles gradually recurved, ellipsoid, 2-3 cm long. Seeds black, glossy, ovoid-spherical, 6-7 mm long, 5-6 mm in diameter. Distributed in East Asia. Two subspecies:

Leaves mostly glabrous or sparsely (occasionally hispid on lower surface; diploid (tetrapoids rarely occur in the Far East of Russia and on Mt Changbai of NE China) ....subsp. obovata
Leaves usually densely, very occasionally sparsely, hispid on lower surface; tetraploid (the only diploid found in a mixed population in Lushi County, W Henan)....subsp. willmottiae

Paeonia obovata Maxim. subsp. obovata...
Flowering from late April to early June; fruiting from late July to August. Chromosome number: 2n = 10, rarely 2n = 20. Growing in deciduous broad-leaved, mixed broad-leaved and needle-leaved, or conifer forests below 2,800 m in altitude.

(2011)  Page(s) 48.  Includes photo(s).
 
Paeonia obovata Maxim. subsp. willmottiae (Stapf) D. Y. Hong & K. Y. Pan in Hong et al., Pl. Syst. Evol. 227: 134 (2001). (Figs 16.17-16.22).
Paeonoa willmottiae Stapf; P. obovata var. willmottiae (Stapf) Stern.
Flowering in May; fruiting in August & September. Chromosome number: 2n = 20. Growing in deciduous forests at altitudes from 800 m to 2,800 m. Confined to the mountain area around the Qinling Range: NE Chongqing, W Henan, W Hubei, S Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi and N Sichuan.

(2011)  Page(s) 44.  
 
Leaves mostly glabrous or sparsely (occasionally hispid on lower surface; diploid (tetrapoids rarely occur in the Far East of Russia and on Mt Changbai of NE China) ....subsp. obovata
Leaves usually densely, very occasionally sparsely, hispid on lower surface; tetraploid (the only diploid found in a mixed population in Lushi County, W Henan)....subsp. willmottiae

(2011)  Page(s) 38-39.  Includes photo(s).
 
Paeonia sterniana H.R. Fletcher, J. Roy. Hort. Soc. 84: 327, fig. 103 (1959).
Perennials, 35-60 cm tall, glabrous throughout. Roots carrot-shaped, tap roots up to 2 cm in diameter, more than 30 cm long. Caudex short, muulti-branched, and thus many stems caespitose. Lower leaves biternate; leaflets 9, all segmented; leaf segments 20-30 in number, 4-12 cm long, 1.5-3 cm wide, often lobed; lobes acuminate at the apex. Flowers solitary, terminal, but one or two axillary underdeveloped (sterile) buds often present, rarely 2 on a stem. Involucrate bracts 2-4 in number, leaf-like. Sepals mostly 3, rarely 4, nearly orbicular, all or mostly caudate at the apex. Petals white to pale rose, obovate, 2.3-3 cm long, 1.5-2 cm wide. Filaments yellow; anthers yellow. Disk less than 1 mm high, waved, green-yellow. Carpels mostly 2, less frequently 3; styles less than 1 mm long, stigmas red. Follicles ovoid, ca. 3 cm long. seeds ovoid-oblong, black, lucid, 7-8 mm long, ca. 5 mm in diameter. Chromosome number 2 n = 10. Growing in forests or thickets at an altitude of 2,850-3,500 m. Confined to SE Tibet of China.