Paeonia mascula
English: Balkan peony; Wild peony; Male peony.
Region: north west Africa; Syria, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel; naturalized in Britain.
Habitat: bushy places in meadows and hill; in oak, pine and beech forest, often amongst bracken; on rocky limestone slopes that are north-facing; prefers deep rich soil, neutral or slightly alkaline; doing well in sun or light shade, prefers part shade; intolerant of waterlogged or too dry soil; lime tolerant; frost tolerant; light, sandy, acid and neutral soils; grows in semi-shade; tolerates drought.
Content: paeoniflorin.
Use: ornamental; medicinal.
Botany
Herb; perennial; ± 1 m tall; long-lived plant, for 50 years; young branches are brittle and very subject to wind damage; grows slow.
Root: subject to slug damage in moist soils; < root disturbance.
Leaves: compound, 3 segments.
Flowers: large; red; flowering late spring and early summer.
Pollination: by insects; self-fertile.