peony

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various garden plants of the genus Paeonia, having large, variously colored flowers with numerous stamens and several pistils.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Any plant of the genus Pæonia, which comprises strong-growing showy perennials, familiar in gardens. The common peony is P. officinalis, an herb with large, commonly red flowers, one on a stalk, a native of southern Europe and central Asia. A kindred species, P. tenuifolia, of Siberia and parts of Europe, has the leaves finely cut, and hence is called slender-leafed, fennel-leafed, fern-leafed, or fringed peony. A second typical species is the tree-peony, P. Moutan, a taller shrubby species from China, where it is a favorite, with large rose-colored or nearly white flowers, several on a stalk. These and one or two other species furnish the numerous hybrid and other varieties of the gardens, which vary greatly in color and are often double. The root of the common peony was an ancient charm and medicine, and still has some repute as a nervine.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A plant, and its flower, of the ranunculaceous genus Pæonia. Of the four or five species, one is a shrub; the rest are perennial herbs with showy flowers, often double in cultivation.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any of numerous plants widely cultivated for their showy single or double red or pink or white flowers