What are the characteristics of the peony? Let us guide you through peony knowledge

The peony is one of the four famous flowers in our memory, and it is also a symbol of nobility. Anyone who has seen a peony knows that it truly gives people a noble feeling, gorgeous yet grand. Today, the main purpose here is to introduce some characteristics of the peony. Here, the editor will give everyone a primer on peony knowledge. After all, what are the characteristics of the peony?

Here the editor will mainly introduce it from three aspects: appearance characteristics, growth characteristics, and flower seed characteristics. Let us discuss them in detail below.

1. Appearance characteristics: The peony is a deciduous small shrub plant, so its plant type is small. This plant grows slowly, and the plant height is mostly between 0.5 and 2 m; the roots are fleshy, thick and long, with a woody center, and the length is generally 0.5 to 0.8 m, with very few roots reaching 2 m in length; the color of the root bark and root flesh varies by variety; the branches are upright and brittle, round, and several branches grow in clusters from the rhizome to form a shrub shape. Current-year branches are smooth, herbaceous, yellow-brown, and often split and peel off; the leaves are alternate, and the leaf blades are usually bipinnately trifoliolate compound leaves, while the upper part of the branch often has simple leaves. The leaflets are lanceolate, ovate, elliptical, and other shapes, and the terminal leaflet is often 2- to 3-lobed. The upper side of the leaf is dark green or yellow-green, and the underside is grayish green, smooth or hairy; the total petiole is 8 to 20 cm long, with grooves on the surface.

2. Growth characteristics: The peony flower is solitary at the top of the current-year branch. It is a bisexual flower, large and brightly colored, beautiful and varied in form, with a flower diameter of 10 to 30 cm. The colors of the peony flower include ten major colors: white, yellow, pink, red, purplish red, purple, dark purple, snow blue, green, and compound colors; the stamens and pistils often show petalization. The so-called petalization phenomenon is a complex change produced under the influence of some special environmental factor, causing the stigma and filaments to become longer and wider and take on a petal-like appearance. The natural increase in petals and the degree of petalization of stamens and pistils are related to variety, cultivation environment conditions, growth years, and so on

3. Flower seed characteristics: A normal peony flower has many stamens, strong seed-setting ability, and relatively high seed maturity. In flowers with severe pistil petalization, seed setting is low and seeds are not viable, or no seeds are set. In a complete flower, the stamens are free, and the carpels are generally 5, rarely 8, each with a bottle-shaped ovary of one chamber, marginal placentation, and many ovules. The follicle is five-angled, and each fruit angle sets 7 to 13 seeds. The seeds are round-like, yellowish when mature, and turn dark brown when old. Mature seeds are 0.6 to 0.9 cm in diameter, and the 1000-seed weight is about 400 grams.

I believe that through the editor's introduction above, everyone has a deeper understanding of the peony. Through its appearance characteristics, a peony can stand in your mind; through its growth characteristics, you can better understand its growth habits; and through its flower seed characteristics, you can have an in-depth understanding of it.