Book  (2002)  Page(s) 46.  Includes photo(s).
 
Paeonia ludlowii (Stern et Taylor) D.Y. Hong 1997. The last representative of the subsection Delavayanae was ignored fully for a long time by Chinese botanists. In 1936, the British expedition Frank Ludlow and George Sherriff brought for the first time seeds of this peony from the valley of the Brahmaputra, the Yarlung Zangbo. She grows there at an altitude of just about 3000 m to 3500 m over sea level on dry rocky terraces..

Book  (2001)  Page(s) 446.  
 
Plant Introductions in the period 1900-2000
1947 Paeonia lutea var. ludlowii (syn. P. delavayi var. ludlowii) Tree Peony. S.E. Tibet. Collected by Frank Ludlow and George Sherriff.

Article (magazine)  (2001)  
 
Many gardeners and some botanists may find it surprising that all taxa formerly recognised in Subsection Delavayanae have been reduced to synonymy with P. delavayi Franch., except for P. lutea Delavay var. ludlowii Stern & Taylor, which has been raised to specific rank. Good reasons have, however, been put forward for these changes. D. Y. Hong, Pan and Yu (1998) analyse several populations of P. delavayi sensu lato and show that it is impossible to discern clear distinctions between them. D. Y. Hong (1997) makes a convincing case for raising P. ludlowii to the rank of species. These conclusions are supported by RAPI analysis, as reported by Y R Zou, Cai and Wang (1999).

Article (magazine)  (2001)  
 
KEY TO SPECIES
1. Flowers usually 2 or 3, more or less pendent; disc fleshy, surrounding only the base of the carpels (Section Delavayanae (F. C. Stern) J. J. Halda): 6
6. Carpels usually single, occasionally 2(-3); petals, filaments and stigma always yellow; plants 13-3.5 m tall: ....7. P. ludlowii

7. Paeonia ludlowii (Stern & Taylor) D. Y. Hong, Novon 7 (2): 157, fig. 1 & 2 (1997). Typus: China, SE Tibet, Kongbo Prov.. Miling (Mainling), Tsangpo Valley, 28 v 1938, Ludlow, Sherry & Taylor 4540....Shrub to 3.5 m. Roots not fusiform, suckering close to the stem bases. Lowermost 2-3 leaves more or less biternate; leaflets usually cleft almost to the base into 3 segments, each segment 3-lobed more or less to the middle, the lobes in turn entire or with 1 or 2 teeth; segments and lobes acuminate at the apex. Flowers usually 3 or 4 on each shoot. 10-12 cm diam.. nodding or somewhat pendulous; petals always entirely yellow. Disc yellow. Carpels 1 or occasionally 2(-3)... Endemic to south-east Tibet (Nyingchi, Mainling and Lhunze counties). It seems entirely appropriate for P. ludlowii to be regarded as a distinct species. The fact that the flowers, although usually larger than those of P. delavayi, have only one carpel, or sometimes two, is a very significant difference. The congested growth habit of P. ludlowii and its geographic separation from P. delavayi also support its elevation to specific rank.

Book  (Jan 2000)  Page(s) 49-51.  
 
Stern's second subsection of tree peonies, subsection Delavayanae, includes several species discovered in the mountains of Southwestern China toward the end of the 19th century. In it, he identified and defined the following species:
...Paeonia lutea var. ludlowii F. C. Stern and Taylor
A native of the higher elevations of Tibet, found in southeast Xizang near the Tsango gorges. It was first discovered about 1936. Flowers are yellow; both flowers and leaves are larger and more prominent than those of Paeonia lutea and P. delavayi. Seedlings display considerable variation in size. It makes a splendid large bush, attaining a height of up to 8 feet, and its huge, exotic-looking leaves, green in maturity, make it a valuable plant in the landscape. It is a rank grower and is often covered with flowers, Despite its mountain origin, it often freezes completely to the ground and then sprouts again in spring, in bronzy tones, from crown buds, and it blooms profusely in New Zealand. Usually very few sets of multiple flower buds are produced for such a large plant. There are few reports of successful hybridizing with this species as a parent. Diploid (10 chromosomes).

Book  (Jan 1999)  Page(s) 632.  Includes photo(s).
 
P. lutea var. ludlowii bright yellow flowers

Book  (Jan 1999)  Page(s) 19, 21.  Includes photo(s).
 
Page 19: Paeonia lutea var. ludlowii found near the Tsamgo gorges in southeast Xizang, Tibet in 1936 by the British plant hunters Frank Ludlow (a Londoner) and Major George Sherriff, a Scottish soldier... great sculptural leaves and large yellow flowers. It flowers very well in New Zealand...
Page 21: [Photo]

Article (magazine)  (Jan 1955)  Page(s) 13.  
 
Paeonia lutea variety ludlowi Stern and Taylor, Bot. Mag. 1953.
Syn. P. lutea Tibetan form Stern in Jour. Hort. Soc., October Commonly called the Tibetan peony or the Ludlow peony.
Seed collected by Ludlow and Sherriff in 1936, their No. 1376, in a comparatively restricted area in southeastern Tibet. There it forms colonies in dry gravel terraces in shrubby thickets of holly-oak forests, at nine to eleven thousand feet. This was in parts of the Tsangpo Valley where there is an annual rainfall of forty inches or less, this zone being intermediate between the rain drenched Himalayan belt and the dry windswept plateaus. It grows eight feet high in comparison with the Chinese form of P. lutea which grows only five feet. It never has more than two functioning carpels while P. lutea, the type, has three to four carpels which are only about half size. It has stiffer stems holding the flower upright on almost erect pedecils above the apical cluster of leaves. The flowers are larger and more open than the type, for in the type they are somewhat cupshaped and concealed by the foliage. In England, where it seems to accommodate itself better than does the type, it flowers three weeks to a month earlier, and flowers best in full sun, either on chalk rubble, rich loam, or poor granite soil. Only a few plants have reached this country, and some difficulty with its culture has already been experienced in the St. Louis area. It is an erect, unbranched or sparingly branched shrub. Stems are commonly leafless except on current year's growth. Leaves trifoliate but usually biternate. Flowers usually four to each stem, up to four and three-fourths inches across. Ludlow, Sherriff and Taylor collected seed again in 1938, their No. 6392. Ludlow, Sherriff and Eliot collected seed in 1947, their No. 13313. In general, the plant differs by taller growth, stiffer stems, holding flowers upright, larger leaves and larger flowers, more open than P. lutea, all producing a very superior plant. Flowers were shown at the Chelsea Flower Show in London in 1947. 

Article (magazine)  (Jan 1955)  Page(s) 22-23.  
 
Finally, Ludlow and Sherriff. exploring in Tibet in 1936, sent to England se·eds of what they called a Tibetan form of P. lutea, and this has now been christened P. lutea variety ludlowi.....Colonel Stern has made crosses with P. lutea Ludlowi, and we shall all wait expectantly for these to flower. I

Article (magazine)  (Jan 1955)  Page(s) 58.  
 
Alphabetical Check List of Tree Peony Names In  Public Collections And/or Available in Nurseries 1954-1955
lutea ludlowi, [Gardens] Scott Foundation, See under species