What Is the Difference Between Roses and Peonies? A Quick Guide to Telling Them Apart

Roses and peonies have always been very common and much-loved flowers, both fragrant and rich in scent, so do you know the difference between roses and peonies? Let's take a look below.

1. Different appearance

1. The peony is a deciduous shrub. The stem reaches up to 2 m tall; the branches are short and thick. The leaves are usually bipinnately trifoliolate compound leaves, occasionally the leaves near the branch tip have 3 leaflets; the terminal leaflet is broadly ovate, 7-8 cm long and 5.5-7 cm wide, 3-lobed to the middle, the lobes not further divided or 2-3 shallowly lobed, the upper surface green and hairless, the lower surface pale green, sometimes with a white bloom, sparsely covered with short soft hairs along the veins or nearly hairless, the leaflet stalk 1.2-3 cm long.

2. The rose is an upright shrub, up to 2 m tall; the stem is stout and grows in clumps; the young branches are densely covered with down, and bear prickles and glandular hairs, with erect or curved, pale yellow prickles that are covered with down on the outside. The leaflets number 5-9, 5-13 cm long including the leaf stalk; the leaflets are elliptic or elliptic-obovate, 1.5-4.5 cm long and 1-2.5 cm wide, the apex acute or rounded-obtuse, the base rounded or broadly wedge-shaped, the margin with sharp serrations, the upper surface dark green and hairless with sunken veins and wrinkled, the lower surface grayish green with the midrib raised and the net veins distinct, densely covered with down and glandular hairs, sometimes the glandular hairs are not obvious.

2. Different growing habits

1. The peony likes warm, cool, dry and sunny environments. It likes sunshine but also tolerates partial shade, tolerates cold, tolerates drought and tolerates mild alkalinity, dislikes waterlogging, fears heat and fears direct blazing sun. It is suitable for growing in loose, deep, fertile, high and dry, well-drained neutral sandy loam. It grows poorly in acidic or heavy clay soil.

2. The rose likes plenty of sunshine, tolerates cold and tolerates drought, and likes well-drained, loose and fertile loam or light loam; it grows poorly in clay loam and flowers poorly. It should be planted in a well-ventilated spot far from walls, to prevent reflected sunlight from scorching the buds and affecting flowering.

3. Different uses

1. Peony bark and peony flowers can be eaten. In many places in China, fresh peony petals are used to make peony soup, or added to dishes for color to create famous dishes. Peony petals can also be steamed to make wine, and the peony dew wine produced has a mellow and fragrant taste.

2. Rose flowers contain more than 300 kinds of chemical components, such as aromatic alcohols, aldehydes, fatty acids, phenols and fragrant oils and fats; regularly eating rose products soothes the qi and invigorates the blood, beautifies the skin and lifts the spirits. The flesh of the rose hip can be made into jam with a special flavor, and the fruit is rich in vitamin C and vitamin P.