Rose and peony discoverer   Listing last updated on 28 Sep 2023.

Leiden,
Netherlands

Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (February 17, 1796 Würzburg - October 18, 1866), German physician, introduced Western medicine to Japan and provided the West with accounts of Japan. Von Siebold was also the editor of the Fauna Japonica.
[From The Book of Tree Peonies, by Gian Lupo Osti, p. 21:] the first significant importations [of tree peonies] from Japan were in 1844, when P.F. von Siebold shipped to the Krelage nursery in Holland forty-two varieties... only a few of these have survived...

[From The Tree Peonies, by John C. Wister & Harold E. Wolfe, 1955, p. 17:] The first known importation of tree peonies from Japan was by Siebold in 1844. It was said to come from the Imperial Gardens of Tokyo and Kyoto and to contain forty-two of the finest varieties. They began to bloom in Holland in the Siebold Nursery and in the garden of Prince Frederic in 1848. They were entirely different from Fortune's Chinese varieties and the descriptions sound as if they covered all the types since offered in Japan. Nothing is known of their subsequent history except that the Dutch nurseryman, Krelage, cataloged a few from Siebold in 1867 at from one to twelve dollars each, but only two or three varieties seem to have survived and to have later been offered by other nurserymen.