Status:

species

Synonym of Paeonia clusii Stern subsp. rhodia (Stearn) Tzanoud.

1941

Stearn

PAEONIA RHODIA Stearn, species nova. Syn. "P. corallina" sec. Boissier in herb. et apud Buser, Fl. Orient. Suppl. 21 (1888), pro parte quoad plantam insulae Rhodi; non Retzius. Herba perennis, humilis, praeter carpellos glabra. [Radices crassae, cylindricae, sed ut videtur non tuberosae]. Caulis florifer uniflorus, ruber, folios 3 (-4) gerens 25 [-35] cm. altus. Folia plerumque biternata, segmentis haud raro bilobatis, lobis ultimis [7-] 8-22 [-30] plerumque anguste ovatis, lanceolatis vel anguste lanceolatis parvis acutis vel acuminatis basi abrupte vel gradatim contractis saepe non confluentibus, 1.5-10 cm longis, 0.7-3.8 cm latis, petiolis petiolulisque rubris. Flos patens c. 85 cm diametro, fragrans (fide E. Landby). Sepala 4, extimum lanceolatum, intinium rotundatum emucronatum nervo medeano inconspicuo. Petala alba, obovata vel late obovata, c. 3.5-4.5 cm longa, 1.5-2 cm lata. Staminum filamenta rubra, c. 3-7 mm longa; anthera flava. Carpella 2-3, ad anthesin erecta et c. 1.5-2 cm longa [serius patentia et 2-2.5 cm longa], ovariis tomentosis, stigmatibus recurvatis sessilibus rubris. [Planta diploidea, chromosomatibus 10].

1946

Stern

1965

Davis & Cullen in Flora of Turkey

P. rhodia W. T. Stearn in Gard. Chron. 150:159 & f. 77 (1941).

Leaves usually with numerous, narrowly oblong to elliptic leaflets, entirely glabrous. Flower c. 7 cm across, petals white. Carpels 2-3, white- tomentose. Follicles with a truncate apex and sessile stigma. Fl. 5. Fields and hills.

Type: Rhodes, Nadelholzerwälder an monte Profitze, c. 600 m, 1938, Engelhardt & Landby (holo. K!).

Is.: Rodhos, Mt. San Elio pres Salakos, 11 vi 1870, Bourgeau 2!

Endemic to Rhodes; related to P. mascula and to P. clusii Stern from Crete.

1984

Stearn & Davis

5. P. rhodia Plate 14; Figs 36, 37

P. rhodia Stearn in Gard. Chron. Ser. 111. 110:159, Fig. 77 (1941): F.C. Stern, Study of Paeonia 84 (1946); Davis & Cullen in Fl. Turkey 1:205 (1965); Phitos & others. Wild Flowers of Greece 53, fig. 37 (1965); Goulandris, Goulimis & Stearn, Wild Flowers of Greece, 24, t. (1968).

P. clusii subsp. rhodia (Stearn) Tzanoudakis, Cytotaxon. Study Paeonia in Greece, 25 (1977).

Illustrations: Stearn, loc. cit. (1941); Phitos & others loc. cit. (1965); Goulandris, Goulimis & Stearn, loc. cit. (1968).

Protologue: "PAEONIA RHODIA Stearn, species nova. Syn. "P. corallina" sec. Boissier in herb. et apud Buser, Fl. Orient. Suppl. 21 (1888), pro parte quoad plantam insulae Rhodi; non Retzius. Herba perennis, humilis, praeter carpellos glabra. [Radices crassae, cylindricae, sed ut videtur non tuberosae]. Caulis florifer uniflorus, ruber, folios 3 (-4) gerens 25 [-35] cm. altus. Folia plerumque biternata, segmentis haud raro bilobatis, lobis ultimis [7-] 8-22 [-30] plerumque anguste ovatis, lanceolatis vel anguste lanceolatis parvis acutis vel acuminatis basi abrupte vel gradatim contractis saepe non confluentibus, 1.5-10 cm longis, 0.7-3.8 cm latis, petiolis petiolulisque rubris. Flos patens c. 85 cm diametro, fragrans (fide E. Landby). Sepala 4, extimum lanceolatum, intinium rotundatum emucronatum nervo medeano inconspicuo. Petala alba, obovata vel late obovata, c. 3.5-4.5 cm longa, 1.5-2 cm lata. Staminum filamenta rubra, c. 3-7 mm longa; anthera flava. Carpella 2-3, ad anthesin erecta et c. 1.5-2 cm longa [serius patentia et 2-2.5 cm longa], ovariis tomentosis, stigmatibus recurvatis sessilibus rubris. [Planta diploidea, chromosomatibus 10].

Distribution: island of Rhodes, --------

With regard to these localities it should be noted that among the Greeks the prophet Elijah (Hagios Elias) is the patron Saint of mountains (cf. Hastings, Dict. Bible, I, 691:1898) and consequently many mountains in Greece and the Aegean islands nowadays bear his name." (Stearn, loc. cit. 1941).

Description: Stem glabrous, reddish, 28-35 cm. Lower leaves biternate. with all or nearly all leaflets divided, totalling 9-29 divisions; terminal leaflet of each trichotomy deeply trifurcate, lateral leaflets usually bifurcate, entire or divided into 3 or 4 lobes. Leaflets and segments ovate to oblong-elliptic or lanceolate, acute to shortly acuminate, thin textured, 2.5-1 cm long, 0.7-3.7 cm broad, green above, paler below, glabrous, subpetiolate or sessile. Flowers c. 7-8 cm across. Petals 6-8, obovate-orbicula, white. Filaments red. Carpels 2-5, tomentose. Style c. 10 mm; stigmatic area 2-2.75 mm broad, strongly circinnate in upper 3/4. Fl. February - April 2 n:10.

Type: (Rhodes) Nadelholzwälder am monte Profitze, c. 6000 m, 1938, Engelhardt & Landby (K!).

Distribution: ------

DODEKANISOS (Dodecanese): Rhodes (Rhodes): -----------

Habitat: Forest of Cupressus semoervirens var. horizontalis on limestone, rarely in phrygana. Altitude 350-630 m.

This is closely allied to P. clusii of Crete and Karpathos but well distinguished in leaf characters.

Specimens collected in fruit on Rhodes by Emile Bourgeau in 1870 made known the existence of a wild peony on the island but its flowers were unknown until 1938 when Mrs Elsa Landby, a Swedish lady living at Eynsford, Kent, England, sent a pressed flowering specimen to Kew for identification. She had brought back a plant for her garden. Unfortunately she died not long afterwards but her husband kindly permitted Stearn to fix root-tips at Eynsford from which L.F. LaCour determined it as having 2 n:10, hence a diploid; Tzanoudakis has confirmed this number. E.A. Bowles had earlier received a plant from Rhodes, stated to be white-flowered, in 1930; he managed to keep it alive for many years hut it never throve and never flowered again. Convinced of its distinctness Stearn in 1941 described it as a new species.

1995

Cullen & Heywood in Tutin: Flora Europaea

6. P.clusii F.C. Stern, Bot. Mag. 162 :t. 9594 (1940) (P. officinalis var. glabra (Boiss.) Hayek). Stems 20-30 cm. Lower leaves with 30 or more narrowly oblong to narrowly elliptical, acute segments, glabrous above and beneath, or slightly pubescent beneath. Flowers 7—10 cm in diameter, white, rarely flushed with pink. Filaments pink. Follicles 2—5, c. 3 cm, densely tomentose. 2n = 10, 20. Kriti and Karpathos. Cr.

Outside Europe, known only from the E. Aegean islands, where the plants have been distinguished as P. rhodia Stearn, Gard. Chron., ser. 3, 110: 159 (1941) (subsp. rhodia (Stearn) Tzan.).

Greece

Rhodos