During a spectacular battle, one of Herakles’ arrows finds Pluto’s shoulder. The god of the underworld looks for Asklepios, the god of medicine, on Mount Olympus. Finding only a student of his, Paean, he submits to his treatment – a decoction of a beautiful flower growing on the mountain. The treatment works.

Pluto departs happy.

Asklepios arrives enraged.

Embarrassed that he has been bested by a mere student, he kills Paean in a murderous rage. Zeus, finding the youth’s body, transforms him into the flower that had saved Pluto’s life. The peony then became the Greek flower of healing.

An Eastern tale tells us that in the Chinese Imperial flower garden of Xiyuan, Empress Wu is enjoying a cup of tea with Princess Tai Ping. It’s a cold winter day, and the empress is suffering from melancholy. Hoping for a sign of spring, she composes a poem for the flower goddess.

In gratitude, the flower goddess agrees to make every flower blossom in winter. The next day, they are all in bloom except one: the stubborn peony. Furious, the empress banishes the flower from her garden.

The Japanese flower of June, the “food of the dragons” represents happy marriage, virility and prosperity. The flowers are eaten there as a vegetable.

Pliny tells us that, worn as an amulet, the peony was a popular protection against enchantment.

Sussex mothers put beads made of peony roots around their children’s necks to prevent convulsions and to help with teething. It was also considered a remedy for insanity, and Culpepper speaks of its virtues in the cure of the falling sickness.

Peony’s root treated epilepsy, nightmares and convulsions. Gathering it required the cooperation of a dog (I could find no further explanation of this). It drove away storms and evil spirits. It was even said to glow in the dark, strengthening its evil-repelling abilities.

In 14th century England, its seeds were used as a culinary spice or strung on a necklace as a protective charm.

In Gloucestershire, England, as recently as the 1910s, people marched through villages on Whit Tuesday bearing white staves with bunches of red peonies.

In the garden, it is one of those flowers whose beauty is intensified by its brevity. Its heady perfume seems to be highly concentrated, its flowers too heavy for their stems. The peony wants to make the most of its all too brief display.

Peony takes her own time. She cannot be forced to bloom out of season, even by a goddess or an empress.

– A reference librarian, Lisa Karen Miller has been gardening and researching plant lore for many years. Have plant lore to share? Email lisalisa13131313@gmail.com.