I was asked recently how to distinguish Paeonia japonica and P. obovata. P. japonica has been described as being diploid, P. obovata as being tetraploid (in The Peonies edited by John Wister); Allan Rogers in Peonies lists both as diploid. I grow P. japonica, but I do not grow P. obovata. The plants of P. obovata I have seen seem stouter than P. japonica as I know it. Also, P. obovata gets its name from the relatively wide, blunt terminal leaflet (Wister again); P. japonica as I know it has relatively long, narrow, pointed leaflets. Can anyone else jump in and cite some differences which a layperson might use to distinguish these species? Thanks, Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7 where the big pink Eremurus is in full bloom. 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/