| Particularly produced in China, peony, one of the traditional famous flowers, has been enjoying a double reputation of ornamental and medicinal use. With its dignified and graceful appearance and highly fragrance, peony enjoys the popularity of "national beauty and heavenly fragrance, which is a supreme ornamental plant with an extremely promising development for gardening and greening. In China, peony has a history of nearly 2000 years in planting and ornamental use, under the long-term nurture of natural crossing and man-made cultivating, it has gained a wide-ranging ecological adaptability and gradually formed four species possessing different ecological characteristics, including Central Plains in China (comprising the middle and lower reaches of the Huanghe River), northwest China, south of Yangtze River and southwest China. Hunan, is one of the natural distribution regions of peony, belonging to the species group of south of Yangtze River with a long history of peony culture.For the time being, the researches on peony from home and abroad involve a lot aspect, though very few systematic studies relating to the history of peony planting and species resource in Hunan have been made. This paper is based on the collection of historical records about Hunan peony and contemporary documents, in-depth investigation in Hunan peony producing regions,as well as comprehensive analysis on the present research findings related to Hunan peonies and the ones in the south of Yangtze River. It overall and thoroughly illustrates the history of planting and usage of Hunan peony, species resource, as well as its application in gardens. The results are as follows:1. Hunan is one of the suitable regions for the peony in the south ofYangtze River in planting and application, its peony planting started from Tang and Song Dynasty, with a history of more than 2000 years in medicinal use and over 1000 years in ornamental use. During Qing Dynasty, peony planting reached its heyday through the development in Yuan and Ming Dynasty, and formed two different application planting systems both in ornamental and medicinal use.2. The species of Hunan peony in ornamental use, which was once recorded in ancient books, was the result in which the peony in Central Plains moving southward. Most of the them are already extinct at the present time, the existing ancient peonies in Yongshun,the south-west part of Hunan Province, are the valuable resources of breeding and planting for Hunan Province, and even the regions of the south of Yangtze River.3. The south-west region of Hunan Province, is one of the important medicinal-peony planting centers, among them, species "Xiangdan" and traditional Central-Plains peony belong to the same category,"Fandan" is similar to "Fengdan", both belong to the category of "Yang Shan Peony". In-depth research on the origin of "Xiangdan" and "Fandan", and their relationships with Central-Plains peony and "Fengdan", contributes important value to the southward-moving peony and damp-heat resistant breeding.4. The first local peony garden was built in Changsha Royal Tombs Park, which plays a positive role in improving the protection of Hunan peony genetic resources.5. Up to now, 23 peony species have been founded in Hunan Province, among them, there are 13 species of ornamental peony and 10 species of medicinal peony, 13 of them are particularly produced in Hunan. As for the ecological distribution and the amount of species of medicinal peony, the south-west part of Hunan Province, is one of the regions that the medicinal peony in region of the Yangtze River distribute the southernmost in latitude and has the most bountiful resources in species.6. The application forms of peony in modern green area are various; mainly comprise specialized garden, parterre, flower border, flower belt,isolated planting, group planting and mass planting. As a main body of botany in the garden, peony can be configured with arbors, flowering shrubs and ground covers. |
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