Chinese peony
Paeonia lactiflora Pall.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 71 cm
- wide
- 71 cm
Paeoniaceae
Formerly Paeonia albiflora, Paeonia edulis, Paeonia fragrans, Paeonia humei, and 5 more
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- PerennialKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- SE. Siberia to N. & E. ChinaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Height
- 51 cm to 91 cmRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS 0.5–1 m; NC State Extension 1–3 ft
- Spread
- 51 cm to 91 cmRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS 0.5–1 m; NC State Extension 1–3 ft
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from RHS, one source
- Flowers
- White, pinkRead from RHS and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS pink, white; Wikipedia pink, red, white
- Coldest it survives
- -30 °C (USDA zone 4b)Read from RHS and NC State Extension, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: RHS -20 °C; NC State Extension -40 °C
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- root
- PAELAC, Цагаан цээнэ
- Czech
- pivoňka čínská
- French
- Pivoine de Chine, Pivoine Blanche
- Dutch
- Chinese pioen
- Russian
- Пион молочноцветковый
- Finnish
- kiinanpioni
- Japanese
- シャクヤク, 山牡丹
- Swedish
- luktpion
- Lithuanian
- Puikusis bijūnas
- Chinese (China)
- 芍药
- Chinese
- 芍藥, 赤芍, 白芍
- Korean
- 작약
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Paeonia lactiflora (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.