Paeonia mascula subsp. bodurii

A rather rare peony that has only recently (1995) been described. It hails from a rather small territory in North Western Turkey. Somewhat slower growing than mascula ssp. hellenica, the foliage is not as dense as well. It does flower some 10 days earlier and is somewhat taller. If you don’t grow them side by side: the main character to tell the difference between it and mascula ssp. hellenica is that the uppermost leaves of bodurii are merely divided into 3 (3×1) leaflets  whereas hellenica usually has 9 (3×3) uppermost leaflets. This division can also be seen in the lowest leaves where bodurii usually has 9 leaflets (3×3) and hellenica has 15 (3×5). Bodurii also has larger leaflets which are more wide. The clean white buds and its earliness make it a good candidate for breeding we think (and that’s also why you don’t see a picture of the open flower, we needed the pollen). We did not notice any damage from late frost which occurred here this season, neither the foliage nor the flowers (petals, carpels, stamens) showed any damage.