Peony Chameleons
James Waddick (Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:19:50 PDT)

Dear Jim and all,
Yes there are two "chameleons' in the peony garden.

The first is P. x chameleon Troitsky ex Grossheim, Flora
Kavkaza 2: 92 (1930) a hybrid of P. daurica x P. mlokosewtschii.
This is discussed briefly in 'The Genus Paeonia' (Halda & Waddick,
2004, Timber Press). According to Hong D-Y's newest views on this
complex, both of these earlier species would now just be considered
local forms of P. daurica. You can read some of the back ground at
Paige Woodward's web site on peonies. Just scroll down to P. daurica
at http://www.hillkeep.ca/ts%20paeonia.htm

The second is a cultivar unfortunately named 'Chameleon' by
Kreckler/Klehm (2001) can be seen at the Song Sparrow Nursery web site
http://songsparrow.com/2008new/plantdetails.cfm/…

I say unfortunate, because a registrar should not really
accept a second name that is identical to one already used in the
genus and easily confused in the literature and by growers.

You can also see more info about both names on Carsten
Burkhardt's remarkable site devoted peonies at
http://paeo.de/navigation/name_ch.html
and clicking on both chameleons there.

And the peonies are starting to show some life this spring, here, too.

Best Jim W.

--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +