Nature
Photo of a Victoire de la Marne Peony (Paeonia lactiflora). This peony flower is a French variety.
Peony
Excerpt from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mischievous nymphs were said to hide in the petals of the Peony thus casing this magnificent flower to be given the meaning of Shame or Bashfulness in the Language of Flowers. It was named after Pæon, a physician to the gods, who obtained the plant on Mount Olympus from the mother of Apollo. Once planted the Peony likes to be left alone and punishes those who try to move it by not flowering again for several years. Once established, however, it produces splendid blooms each year for decades. (Taken from The Language of Flowers, edited by Sheila Pickles, 1990)
For the full content of this article, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peony. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Ref: 2007_1324
Location: Silver Spring, MD
Photographer: Irene Abdou