Paeoniaceae(Flora of china)芍药科.pdf

Flora of China 6: 127–132. 2001. PAEONIACEAE 芍药科 shao yao ke Hong Deyuan (洪德元)1, Pan Kaiyu (潘开玉)1; Nicholas J. Turland2 Shrubs or perennial herbs, to 3.5 m tall. Roots fleshy, thick but attenuate toward tip, or tuberous. Stems (in herbs) or current year’s branchlets (in shrubs) terete, with several persistent scales at base. Leaves alternate, compound; proximal 1–3 best developed, 1–3-ternate or 1- or 2-pinnate; leaflets entire or divided. Flowers solitary and terminal, or 2 or more per shoot and both terminal and axillary, more than 4 cm in diam. Bracts 1–6, leaflike, varying in shape and size, grading into sepals. Sepals 2–9, varying in shape and size. Petals 4–13, varying in color. Stamens up to 230; filaments and anthers varying in color. Disc leathery or fleshy, annular (in herbs) or extended into a sheath and 1/3 to wholly enveloping carpels (in shrubs). Carpels 1–5(–8), free, glabrous or hairy; ovules numerous, borne in two rows along ventral suture. Styles present or absent; stigmas laterally flattened, recurved, crested. Fruit a follicle. Seeds black or dark brown, globose or ovoid-globose, to 1.3 cm in diam. One genus and ca. 30 species: NW Africa, temperate Asia and Europe, W North America; 15 species (ten endemic) in China. Pan Kai-yu. 1979. Ranunculaceae subfam. Paeonioideae. In: Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 27: 37–59. 1. PAEONIA Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1:530. 1753 芍药属 shao yao shu Morphological characters and geographical distribution are the same as those of the family. Paeonia is a very complex genus and many of the species are not yet well defined. A consistent taxonomic treatment will require further studies throughout the world distribution of the genus in order to resolve questions about the limits of, and relationships between, the species. 1a. Herbs perennial; disc not well develop