Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Saxifragales |
Family: | Paeoniaceae |
Genus: | Paeonia |
Species: | P. daurica |
Subspecies: | P. d. subsp. mlokosewitschii |
Trinomial name | |
Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii (Lomakin) D.Y.Hong |
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Synonyms | |
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Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii (golden peony or Caucasian peony) is a peony native to the Caucasus Mountains in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Dagestan, where it grows on rocky slopes in oak, hornbeam, or beech forests. It was formerly regarded as a separate species, Paeonia mlokosewitschii, but in 2002, the Chinese botanist Hong Deyuan reduced it to a subspecies of Paeonia daurica.
It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing twenty-three to twenty-seven inches (60–70 cm) tall, with biternate, glaucous leaves with obovate lobes. In spring it bears large, single, lemon-yellow flowers five inches (10–12 cm) in diameter, the ovary pubescent, the two to four carpels white, pink or yellow, and the stamen filaments yellow-green.
It was discovered by the Polish botanist Ludwik Mlokosiewicz in 1897, after whom it was named by Aleksandr Lomakin. The plant is sometimes nicknamed "Molly the Witch", a humorous mispronunciation of the species name, which most non-Poles find difficult to pronounce.