Tree peony is the vernacular name for the

section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sign ...

''Moutan'' of the plant genus '' Paeonia'', or one of the species or cultivars belonging to this section. It consists of

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s that have perennial aerial woody stems. Other peonies do not have perennial woody stems, but their stems die back after the growing season, to emerge again from buds just below the surface early in the following year. Tree peonies have been in culture in China for millennia, and it is likely that hybrids came into being in gardens, where different wild tree peony species were planted closely together. They are used in China both for medicine and as an ornamental, particularly the hybrids called ''

Paeonia suffruticosa Paeonia or Paionia may refer to: * The genus ''Paeonia'', which comprises all peony plants * Paeonia (kingdom), an ancient state occupying roughly the same area as the present-day Republic of North Macedonia * Paionia (municipality) Paionia ( e ...

''. These hybrids in particular, but other tree peonies too are called 牡丹 (mu dan) in China.

Taxonomy

Two subsections are recognised within the section ''Moutan'': '' Delavayana'' and '' Vaginatae''. Species assigned to the section ''Moutan'' are:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21378324, from2=Q7837623 Peonies Garden plants