Leaf
Mathieu Menand, Tela Botanica · CC BY-SA 2.0
Common peony
Paeonia officinalis L.
Also known as: European peony, Cottage peony
Family: Paeoniaceae
50 to 80 cm tall
Gardens, borders, rich, free-draining soils
Flowering: May – June
Full sun
Part shade
Hardy to -25°C
❓ How do you recognise this plant?
A single clump of peony can flower in the same spot for more than 50 years without being divided. The wild common peony has single, pink to red flowers and narrower leaflets; the cultivated Chinese peony most often has large, very full double flowers.
🍃 Leaves
Large, deeply cut, bright green
🌸 Flowers
Very large crimson-red flowers, single or double, with many golden stamens
🍎 Fruits
Velvety follicles splitting open on glossy black seeds
🪵 Bark
Upright herbaceous stem, dying back in winter
🗺️ Distribution
Southern Europe; rare and localised in France (garrigue and open woods of the south), widely grown in gardens.
🐝 Value for pollinators
Large red flowers very rich in pollen, visited by bees and bumblebees in spring.
✂️ Horticultural uses
Perennial borders, edgings, spring cut flower; wild ancestor of garden peonies.
⚠️ Possible toxicity
Mildly toxic if ingested (seeds and root), may cause digestive upset.
🌱 Known cultivars
'Rubra Plena'
'Rubra Plena' bears fully double, globular crimson-red flowers with no visible stamens, the opposite of the single, flat flowers of the wild species. It is one of the oldest known peony cultivars, grown for centuries and awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
⚠️ Look-alike species
Common peony
Paeonia officinalis
Chinese peony
Paeonia lactiflora
The wild common peony has single, pink to red flowers and narrower leaflets; the cultivated Chinese peony most often has large, very full double flowers.
🌿 Other Paeoniaceae to discover
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.
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