English: Tibetan tree peony; Ludlow's tree peony.
Tibetan: Lumaidao, = God’s flower.
Chinese: Da hua huang mu dan, =big yellow-flowered peony.
Region: southeast Tibet.
BotanyShrub; medium high; hairless; 2 to 4 m tall.
Root: narrower further down; not fused.
Stem: no creeping stems or stolons; grey to light brown, light green when young; grow in clumps, do not branch often; may reach 4 cm in diameter, with 8 to 12 scales at the base.
Leaves: large; twice compounded; light green above, glaucous pale green below; deciduous; stalk is 9 to 15 cm long; blade is twice compounded or deeply divided or biternate; primary leaflets 3, on a short stem of 2 to 3 cm, blades 6 to 12 by 5 to 13 cm, incised almost to the base.
Inflorescence: 3 to 4 flowers on each shoot, extending from the axil of the leaves
Flowers: pure yellow; slightly nodding; bowl-shaped; large, ± 11 cm wide; subtended by 4 to 5 lance-shaped bracts; stalk ± 7 cm long; flowering late May and early June.
Sepals: 3 to 5, green, with a rounded outline of ± 2 cm, with rounded tip, narrows into a point.
Petals: pure yellow; inverted egg-shaped, spreading, slightly curved inwards, ± 5 by 3 cm, rounded tip.
Stamens: numerous; filaments yellow, ± 1 cm long; anthers yellow, ± 4 mm long.
Carpels: 1 to 2; topped by yellow stigmas; yellow disk at the base, ring-shaped, with teeth, ± 1 mm high.
Fruit: cylindrical fruits or follicles, ± 5 by 3 cm.
Seeds: dark brown; globose; ± 1cm; ripe in August.
Chromosomes: 2n=10.