Lola mentioned a peony named 'Chameleon'. Although an IPNI search turned up nothing, one site gives this citation: Paeonia × chameleon Troitsky (1930) ex Grossg That name is applied to " Wild hybrid between P. caucasica (P. mascula triternata) and P. wittmanniana" Here's the link I saw: http://pivoine-hellebore.com/pivoines/… Several comments: I'm surprised at the spelling chameleon - that's an Americanism, isn't it? I would have expected chamaeleon. Does anyone know if the authors of this name are Americans? Given the parentage, I am surprised that Lola is experiencing quick germination. Lola, what exactly is happening? I'll bet a root tip is emerging from the seed. If so, this seedling is likely to require a cold period before it will produce foliage. The photos given at the site cited (note the dexterous use of homophones-thank you) above really got me thinking. In one of those fascinatingly serendipitous coincidences, I just got confirmation that this fall I will be receiving a long-desired Saunders hybrid peony named 'Athena'. This hybrid bears some resemblance to this Paeonia × chameleon: both have pinkish white flowers with a strong pinkish-red splash of color at the base of the petals. At first glance, they look a bit like tree peony flowers. That they look a bit alike is no accident: 'Athena’ was reposted to have Paeonia macrophylla (wittmanniana) and P. mlokosewitschii in its ancestry. P. mlokosewitschii, P. macrophylla, P. wittmanniana and P. caucasica are now sometimes considered to be forms of P. daurica, so this old hybrid and this P. × chameleon must share many genetic similarities. In any case Lola, if you can flower them they should be lovely – and incidentally, not interspecific hybrids at all but simply variants of Paeonia daurica to those who accept that grouping. In doing some peony searching lately, I ran across a bit of information which is new to me (but now I forget where I saw it - my apologies to the source). If you had asked me recently about peony germination, I would have said that all germinate hypogeally. Not so: apparently Paeonia tenuifolia and the North American Paeonia have epigeal germination. Life is beautiful – and complex! Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the glowing red petioles of Oxalis ‘Garnet’ are the most colorful thing in the protected cold frame. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/