Paeonia lactiflora (Peony)

6/12/2024 · East Falmouth, Massachusetts · By Craig Dickson

6/27/2026 · Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay, Maine · ≈ 16 × 11″ (40 × 27 cm)

6/11/2008 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 17 × 11″ (42 × 28 cm) ID is uncertain

6/11/2008 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 4½″ (16 × 11 cm) ID is uncertain

6/27/2026 · Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay, Maine · ≈ 12 × 8″ (30 × 20 cm)

6/4/2013 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 9 × 7″ (23 × 16 cm) ID is uncertain

6/11/2008 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 11 × 8″ (28 × 19 cm) ID is uncertain

6/5/2007 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts ID is uncertain

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Dilleniidae	Trees and shrubs with polypetalus or gamopetalous corollas, often with ovules attached to the walls of the ovary. The name is from the genus Dillenia
Order	Dilleniales	From the genus Dillenia, which Carl Linnaeus named to honor German botanist Johann Jacob Dillenius (1684–1747)
Family	Paeoniaceae	The peony family, Peaonia
Genus	Paeonia	Honors Paeon, the physician of the gods in Homer’s Iliad who used the plant to heal the wound that Hercules inflicted on Pluto
Species	lactiflora	From lac, láctis, latte, ”milk,“ and flos, floris, fiore, flower—for the milk-white flowers