Ludlowi peony

The Chinese name for the species Paeonia ludlowii, Da hua huang mu dan, means “big yellow-flowered tree peony”, while the botanical name comes from the English botanist Ludlow who together with Sheriff discovered it in Tibet in 1936. It grows wild in a small area of southern Tibet at altitudes of between 2,900 and 3,500 m, in sparse forests, in woods full of thickets or on granite ridges. It differs from the P. delavayi species for its larger size, reaching even more than 3 m in height, with bigger, pure yellow flowers, and shrubs producing few shoots. It is at risk of extinction.