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"
This plant is at first sight distinguishable from its congeners by
its short, rigid, upright stalks, the dark bluish-green colour of
its leaves, which are flat, compact, very much divided, the
laciniae crowded, overlapping each other, very woolly on the
under-side, nowise bordered with red, as in most of the others,
and, the lateral leaflets being almost sessile, the exterior side
of each disposed to be decurrent. It is the most dwarf
of all our species, seldom reaching 18 inches in height, even in
our gardens. The flower is small, of a dark dull purplish-red, by
no means handsome.“ ((cit. n. Baker (1884))
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16.
P. mollis, Anders., Mon.,
No. 13; DC. Prod., i., 66 ; Lodd., Bot. Cab., t.
r263 ; Sabine, in Bot. Reg. t. 474.—Stem
about 1 foot long, 1-headed, densely pilose. Leaves 5—6,
crowded, dull green above, glaucous and densely pubescent beneath,
cut into 30—40 oblong lanceolate segments ¾ —1
inch broad. Flower like those of officinalis and peregrina, but
smaller and duller in hue. Follicles 3—3, densely
pilose, erect-arcuate. Not distinct
from the last in any broad sense. Anderson, who first separated
it, writes:—" This plant is
at first sight distinguishable from its congeners by its short,
rigid, upright stalks, the dark bluish-green colour of its leaves,
which are flat, compact, very much divided, the laciniae crowded,
overlapping each other, very woolly on the under-side, nowise
bordered with red, as in most of the others, and, the lateral
leaflets being almost sessile, the exterior side of each disposed
to be decurrent. It is the most dwarf of all our
species, seldom reaching 18 inches in height, even in our gardens.
The flower is small, of a dark dull purplish-red, by no means
handsome.“ It has not been
claimed as a wild plant by any of the authors
of recent Floras of the southern countries of Europe.
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Sub-genus
Paeon.
Herbaceous.
Petals not leathery, large and expanding, much exceeding the
sepals.
E.
Leaves glaucous, or of very pale green above, generally of
striking grey-green aspect; leaflets glaucous below, and very
rarely without distinct pubescence, always divided, and with the
lobes often fissured.
II.
Plants dwarf, with flowers subsessile, appearing to rest on the
leaves.
24.
P. mollis, Anders., Bot.
Reg,, vi. 474; Sweet, Brit. Fl. Garden, vol. ii.,
1.108; Lodd. Cab., 1.1268.—
Stems
a foot high or more, rigid. Leaves dark bluish green, flat,
compact, and much divided ; secondary petioles almost wanting ;
segments broadly lanceolate or oblong, crowded, imbricating, not
bordered with red, densely hairy below. Corolla small, purple-red.
Carpels usually three, erect, slightly incurved. Anderson
suspects it to have come from the Crimea.
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42.
Paeonia mollis sect. PAEON SUBSECT. dissectifoliae officinalis
GROUP
42.
P.mollis Anderson in Trans.Linn.Soc.London, 12,
282 (1818) ; Bot.Reg.t.474 (1820) ; DC. Prodr. 1,66
(1824) ; Loddiges, Bot.Cab. t. 1263 (1827) ; Baker in Gard.
Chron., N. Ser. 21, 829 (1884) ; Huth in Engl. Bot.
Jahrb. 14, 273 (1891); F. C. Stern in Journ. Roy.
Hort. Soc. 68, 130 (1943).
Syn.
P.pubens Sims in Bot. Mag. t. 2264 (1821) ;
Reichenbach, Ic. Fl. Germ. 4, t. 124 (1840) ; Lynch in
Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. 12, 442 (1890).P.sessiliflora
Sims in Bot. Mag. t. 2648 (1826) ; F. C. Stem in
Journ. Roy. Hort, Soc. 56, 73 (1931).P.villosa
Desf. sec. Sweet, Brit. Flow. Gard. t. 113 (1826) ; Desf.
Cat. PI. Hort. Reg. Paris, Ed. 3, P.213 (1829) ; non Desf.
(1804).
Description.
Stem villous to glabrous, 30-45 cm.
high. Lower leaves bitemate, but all the leaflets are
bifurcate or trifurcate, giving 21-25 divisions, some of which are
more or less deeply 2-3-lobed ; divisions mostly narrow, oblong or
elliptic, cuneate and often confluent at the base, apex acute or
bluntly acute, 6-10 cm. long, 2-4 cm. wide, green and glabrous
above, glaucous and densely white-hairy below. Flower
somewhat cup-shaped, about 7 cm. across, not carried above the
foliage. Petals obovate, red or white. Stamens 13-15
mm. long, filaments red or pale yellow, anthers yellow. Carpels
2-3, densely tomentose. Follicles 2-2-5 cm. long.
Distribution.
Known only in gardens and probably of garden origin.
P.mollis
belongs to the Officinalis group and stands somewhat near
P.humilis var. villosa. It is distinguished from it
by the upright stalk, the sessile leaflets and the subsessile
flower, with a short stalk which makes the flower look as if it
were sitting down in amongst the leaves.
Anderson3
(1818) described this paeony from a garden specimen in his
Monograph of the Genus. He writes, " This plant is at
first sight distinguishable from its congeners by its short rigid
upright stalks, the dark bluish-green colour of its leaves which
are flat, compact, very much divided, the laciniae crowded,
overlapping each other, very woolly on the underside, nowise
bordered with red as in most of the others, and the lateral
leaflets being almost sessile, the exterior side of each disposed
to be decurrent. It is the most dwarf of all our species, seldom
reaching 18 inches in height even in our gardens. The flower is
small of a dark, dull purplish-red by no means handsome."
In
the Botanical Register, vol. 6, t. 474 (1820), where there
is an excellent plate of the red-flowered form of P.mollis,
the text states that this paeony was reputed to have been raised
by Messrs. Loddiges & Son from seed sent them by Pallas,
probably from the southern districts of the Russian Empire.
There
are no wild specimens in any herbaria. If the original plant
appeared in Loddiges' garden from seed sent by Pallas, the
sterility of the plant would indicate that the collected seed was
the result of some chance hybridisation in the wild. It certainly
seems to be of garden origin.
The
white form of the same plant was described by Sims and illustrated
in the Botanical Magazine in 1826, t. 2648, and named by
him P.sessillflora. It has grown in my garden for many
years, and has the rigid upright stalks, the bluish-green leaves
and other characters emphasised by Anderson. Further, the stalk
comes out of the ground quite green and as Anderson remarks, "
nowise bordered with red," which is the habit of most other
paeonies. It also has the same habit as the red-flowered form,
that the flower is subsessile and therefore seems to sit down
amongst the foliage. This variety has never had fertile seed in my
garden. It is not of much account as a garden plant]
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