Jerry Flintoff, in what might be a Freudian slip, praised the old yellow tree peony hybrid 'Souvenir de Maxime Corne'. I share his enthusiasm for this grand old plant. What intrigues me about his comment is that he, perhaps inadvertently, might be alluding to what I have been avoiding in this discussion. I referred to these yellow-flowered tree peonies as "yellow-flowered sorts". It was suggested that there was no accepted name for these; yet, there is. That name is Paeonia x lemoinei. I wonder if that is what Jerry had in the back of his mind because, of course, 'Souvenir de Maxime Cornu' is not a Lemoine hybrid (it was hybridized by Professor Henry), but it is the first of the Paeonia x lemoinei cultivars. Rehder published this name in 1920. John Wister, ever my first choice for readily available, detailed information on this topic, made this prophetic statement about a half century ago: " The hybrid group is apparently now used to include all the Henry, Lemoine, and Saunders hybrid varieties, but under botanical rules this could hold only if P. lutea is considered as a botanical variety of P. delavayi and not as a distinct species." That in fact is what has come to pass: Paeonia delavayi is the name now used for the peonies once known as P. delavayi, P. lutea and P. potaninii. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where Dracunculus vulgaris is living up to its name and stinking up its corner of the garden. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/