Paeonia lactiflora Pall.

Herbs perennial, to 70 cm tall. Roots thick, attenuate toward tip, to 1.3 cm in diam. Stems glabrous. Proximal leaves 2-ternate; all leaflets decurrent at base, terminal ones often 2-or 3-segmented; leaflets and segments up to 15, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 4.5--16 × 1.5--4.8 cm, sparsely pubescent abaxially, bristly along veins adaxially, margin white cartilaginous denticulate, apex acuminate. Flowers usually several per shoot, both terminal and axillary, sometimes only terminal one developed, single (in wild plants) or double (in cultivated plants), 8--13 cm wide. Bracts 4 or 5, lanceolate, unequal. Sepals 3 or 4, broadly ovate or suborbicular, 1--1.5 × 1--1.7 cm. Petals 9--13, white or pink (in wild plants), or varying in color (in cultivated plants), obovate, 3.5--6 × 1.5--4.5 cm. Filaments yellow, 0.7--1.2 cm; anthers yellow. Disc yellow, annular. Carpels 2--5, green or purple, glabrous or rarely tomentose. Follicles oblong-ellipsoid, 2.5--3 × 1.2--1.5 cm. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Aug. 2n = 10.

It is a temperate plant. It requires a deep rich neutral of alkaline soil. The soil should not be waterlogged nor too dry. It can stand medium frosts. It needs shelter from winds. It can tolerate winter temperatures down to-30°C. It suits hardiness zones 6-9. In Yunnan.

The root is cooked and eaten in soup. The bark is rubbed off and it is dried. The seeds are powdered and mixed with tea. The dried fruit peel is used for a tea drink. It is used for an edible red colouring. The flowers are dried and used for tea drinks.

Plants are grown from seed and fresh seed should be used, as stored seed takes a long time to germinate. Plants do not like root disturbance. Transplanting or division of the root should be done very carefully.