Rose, peony and clematis Discoverer  

Listing last updated on Sat Oct 2024

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 Bulletin de la Société d'horticulture d'Orléans, 1847, p. 228:] Séance générale mensuelle du 6 juin 1847 .... Lettre de M. Von Siébolt de Leide en date du 14 mai 1847. M. Von Siébolt annonce qu'il va livrer au commerce des variétés admirables de la Pœonia moutan et de la Pœonia papaveracea, dont les plantes mères, introdites par lui de Japon en 1845, onr fleuri pour la première fois cette année, et elles ont donné des fleurs ayant jusqu'à 30 centimètres de diamètre. Les couleurs et le nuancees présentent : le blanc de neige, le blanc vert, le violet, le lilas les roses pâle et foncé, le carné, le pourpre, l'amaranthe, l'écarlate, le cramoisi, le brun plus ou moins foncé ; quelques-unes ont les pétales panachés, striés, flambés de blanc, de vert, de pourpre et de carmin.

[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.