Description
(P. mascula russoi)
This makes 30-35 cm tall stems each bearing light purple-violet flowers. It is softer in colouring than many Mediterranean species, each bloom 10cm across and with white or rose-pink filaments bearing yellow anthers.
Flowering is from April onward depending on your climate, although this is notably an early-blooming species. The foliage consists of attractive greyish, biternate leaves with red edges when the leaves are young (and thus at flowering time). Light shade is best with good drainage, lime soils seem as good as neutral or acid soils as long as none are too extreme.
Native to Sardinia and perhaps Corsica as well, if you believe some authorities. However it’s synonym P. mascula russoi is not found at all on Sardinia (if you believe other ‘experts’, who say that the range does not to reach further than Sicily). In addition to the arguments over the validity and scope of the actual botanical name and the geographical occurrence of the plant, the species identity itself is so much muddled botanically that most reports from outside of even this small region probably refer to another, or several other, species entirely.
Our stocks are traceable to a Jimmy Persson collection made on Sardinia ( J. Persson 92-1 ). This was received as Paeonia mascula russoi however there are (at least) 3 peonies on Sardinia (P. corsica, P.morisii and P. sandrae) and of these this stock is attributable to P.morisii (incidentally this is the correct spelling which has only has on “r” in it) . Call it what you will, this remains the same beautiful plant.
