Paeonia delavayi var. alba Bean; P. delavayi subsp. angustiloba (Rehder & E. H. Wilson) B. A. Shen; P. delavayi var. angustiloba Rehder & E. H. Wilson; P. delavayi var. atropurpurea Schipczinsky; P. delavayi subsp. lutea (Delavay ex Franchet) B. A. Shen; P. delavayi var. lutea (Delavay ex Franchet) Finet & Gagnepain; P. delavayi var. lutea f. superba Lemoine; P. franchetii Halda; P. handel-mazzettii Halda; P. lutea Delavay ex Franchet; P. potaninii Komarov; P. potaninii f. alba (Bean) Stern; P. potaninii var. trollioides (Stapf ex Stern) Stern; P. trollioides Stapf ex Stern.
Shrubs 0.2--1.8 m tall, glabrous throughout. Roots tuberous. Turions present. Stems brown-gray. Proximal leaves 2-ternate; leaflets always segmented, base usually decurrent; segments again segmented or lobed; ultimate segments and lobes (17--)25--100(--300), linear or linear-lanceolate, 0.5--10 × 0.2--2.7 cm, margin entire or occasionally dentate. Flowers 1--3 per shoot, both terminal and axillary, basipetal, ± pendulous, single, 6--10 cm wide. Bracts 1--5, varying in shape and size. Sepals 2--9, green abaxially, green with a pink base adaxially, or wholly purple or purple-red, triangular-orbicular or orbicular, 1.3--3.7 × 0.6--2.3 cm, apex rounded to mucronate or acuminate. Petals (4--)7--11(--13), yellow, yellow with a red or purple-red spot at base, red, dark red, or dark purple-red, sometimes white, green-yellow, yellow with a red margin, or orange. Filaments yellow, pink-red, or dark purple-red; anthers yellow, pink, red, or dark purple-red. Disc yellow, red, or dark red, annular or shortly cylindric. Carpels 2--5(or 6--8); ovary usually green, sometimes purple. Stigmas green-yellow, yellow, red, or purple-red. Follicles brown at maturity, oblong-ovoid, 2--3.5 × 1--1.5 cm. Seeds brown-black. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Aug--Sep. 2n = 10*.
* Dry Pinus or Quercus woods, thickets, rarely grassy slopes or glades in virgin Picea forests; 2000--3600 m; W Sichuan, SE Xizang, C and N Yunnan.
