''Paeonia californica'' is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herbaceous plant Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

of 35–70 cm high, that retreats underground in summer, and reoccurs with the arrival of the winter rains. It has

lobed The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

leaves, elliptic (cup-shaped) drooping flowers with dark maroon-colored

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s, and many yellow

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s. It flowers mostly from January to March (or sometimes as early as December or as late as May), and later develops two to five fruits per flower. Its common name is California peony and it is sometimes also referred to as wild peony. This peony is an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

of southwestern California (USA), where it is not rare, and northernmost Baja California (Mexico). It grows on dry hillsides in the

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is w ...

and

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

communities of the coastal mountains of Southern and Central California, often as an understory plant. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the other ''Paeonia'' species native to North America, '' Paeonia brownii''.

Description

upright=1.35, leftThe California peony is a summer-

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

perennial herbaceous plant of 35–75 cm high. Each shoot usually carries seven to twelve compound leaves, each primary segment is 3–9 cm long and 1–6 cm wide, and the finest divisions are linear to spade-shaped. The base of the leaflet blade narrows gradually into the leaflet stalk, which is short or may be absent. The tips of the leaflets are usually pointy, and the surface of the leaf is green and not particularly

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

. The bisexual flowers occur at the tip of the stem and are nodding. The petals are dark red or purplish, sometimes almost black, while the margins are lighter, elliptic in shape and 1½–2½ cm long, usually longer than the sepals. The numerous stamens consist of filaments of ½–¾ cm topped by

s of ⅓–⅔ cm long, containing yellow pollen. Two to five carpels eventually develop into follicles of 3–4 cm long. The seeds are about 1½ cm long, slightly curved, and have a dull, coarsely wrinkled surface. ''P. californica'' has ten chromosomes (2n=10), as all other diploid peonies. ''cited on''

Differences from related species

The California peony is most related to, and close in appearance to Brown's peony, with which it constitutes the section ''Onaepia''. Common characters include having rather small drooping flowers, with small petals and a very prominent disk which usually consists of separate segments, while the seeds are cylindrical rather than ovoid. It can still be easily distinguished from ''P. browniii'' however by 35–75 cm high stems bearing seven to twelve leaves which are green, while the leaflet blade gradually eases into the leaflet stalk or lacks such a stalk all together, and the finest lobes are lanceolate or narrowly elliptic. ''P. brownii'' is only 20–40 cm high, has six to eight glaucous leaves per stem that suddenly narrow at their base and the finest segments are egg-shaped. In ''P. californica'' the petals are egg-shaped, and about 1½-2½ cm long, reaching beyond the sepals, while in ''P. brownii'' the petals are circular or wider than long, and about ¾-1½ cm long, definitely shorter than the sepals.

Taxonomy

''Paeonia californica'' was first described in 1838 by

Thomas Nuttall Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an England, English botany, botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841. Nuttall was born in the village of Long Preston, near Settle, North Yorkshire, S ...

in the Flora of North America which was edited by

John Torrey John Torrey (August 15, 1796 – March 10, 1873) was an American botany, botanist, chemist, and physician. Throughout much of his career, he was a teacher of chemistry, often at multiple universities, while he also pursued botanical work, focus ...

and

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

. Several later

authors An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

considered it a subtaxon of ''P. brownii'': a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

(

Abrams Abrams may refer to: * Abrams (surname), a list of notable people with the surname * '' Abrams v. United States'', 250 U.S. 616 (1919), U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding free speech during times of war * M1 Abrams, main battle tank * Abrams, W ...

in 1944, and Halda in 1997) or a variety (Lynch, 1890). There are however several morphological differences, the environmental circumstances in which each grows are different and the distributions of both species do not overlap, so currently there seems to be consensus that both need to be regarded as separate species. ''P. brownii'' and ''P. californica'' together make up the section ''Onaepia'' of the genus ''Paeonia''. Precise relationships between the three sections remain ambiguous, and can be represented by the following phylogenetic tree.

Distribution

California peonies have a native distribution in southwestern California (

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, Monterey, Orange,

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino,

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties) and in neighboring Mexico (northern

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

), although distribution in Mexico is poorly known. It grows on dry hillsides in the

and

communities of the coastal mountains of Southern and Central California, often as an understory plant between sea level and 1500 m elevation.

Cultivation

The California peony has entered limited cultivation in

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

landscaping and

xeriscaping Xeriscaping is the process of Garden design, landscaping, or gardening, that reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation. It is promoted in regions that do not have accessible, plentiful, or reliable supplies of fresh water and has gained accep ...

. It is drought-tolerant and is moisture sensitive in the summer, when its swollen root will rot if watered. It prefers partial sun and tolerates a variety of soil types. Deer seem to avoid eating this plant.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Paeonia californica''''Paeonia californica'' — UC Photo gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7124095 californica Endemic flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Plants described in 1838 Flora without expected TNC conservation status