银屏牡丹——花王牡丹的野生近亲

Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews subsp. spontanea (Rehder) S. G. Haw et L. A. Lauener (=P. spontanea=P. jishanensis) has been considered as the wild form of widely cultivated P. suffruticosa. However, the subspecies differs from the cultivated one in shape, division and indumentum of leaves and reproductive biology. As a result of extensive field work, a form with two individuals in Yinping Shan, Caohu, Anhui, and Songxian, Henan, are found to be extremely similar to P. suffruticosa, but apparently different from P. jishanensis. The form is considered to be the wild one of P. suffruticosa and described as new: P. suffruticosa subsp. yinpingmudan Hong, K. Y. Pan et Z. W. Xie.