Peony - May 2011

Peony (シャクヤク（芍薬）） Red & Pink. Both my wife and my late mother love this flower for its beauty and fragrance. In Japanese, peony is referenced to describe a beautiful woman.

「立てば芍薬 座れば牡丹 歩く姿は百合の花」という言葉がある。
Standing figure is like Shakuyaku(peony), sitting figure is like Bottan(peony), and walking figure is like Yuri (lily).

シャクヤク（芍薬）はボタン科の多年草。学名 Paeonia lactiflora。　高さ約60cm。葉は複葉。初夏、大形の紅・白色などのボタンに似た花を開く。 In Chinese, 芍藥 "sháoyao" (literally: "most beautiful")

Paeonia lactiflora, also Chinese Peony (芍 or 白芍 in Chinese; pinyin: sháo or bái sháo; bái meaning "white"), and common garden peony is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Paeoniaceae, native to central and eastern Asia from eastern Tibet across northern China to eastern Siberia. It is about 60–100 cm tall with large compound leaves 20–40 cm long. The flower buds are large and round, opening into large flowers 8–16 cm diameter, with 5-10 white, pink, or crimson petals and yellow stamens.

Peony or paeony is a name for plants in the genus Paeonia, the only genus in the flowering plant family Paeoniaceae. They are native to Asia, southern Europe and western North America. Boundaries between species are not clear and estimates of the number of species range from 25 to 40.
Source: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peony)

ボタン（牡丹、学名：Paeonia suffruticosa）は、ボタン科ボタン属の落葉小低木。または、ボタン属（Paeonia）の総称。 別名は「富貴草」「富貴花」「百花王」「花王」「花神」「花中の王」「百花の王」「天香国色」 「名取草」「深見草」「二十日草（廿日草）」「忘れ草」「鎧草」「ぼうたん」「ぼうたんぐさ」など多数。(Source: Wikipedia - http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%89%A1%E4%B8%B9)

牡丹が「花王」と呼ばれるのに対し、芍薬は花の宰相、「花相」と呼ばれる。ボタンが樹木であるのに対して、シャクヤクは草である。

Paeonia suffruticosa, the tree peony, is a species of peony native to China. It is known as 牡丹 "mǔdān" in Chinese and is an important symbol in Chinese culture.

牡丹 is a tree and シャクヤク is a grass/plant, according to this. So, what I have is シャクヤク, though both are called peony, but a different group. I didn't know this.