Chinese peony
Sources last read 14 September 2026.
Middling It gives warning, with time to act.
Also called edible-rooted peony and white-fruited peony.
Toxicity is partly unassessed
- Not assessed for cats. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
- Not assessed for dogs. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
- Not assessed for people. RHS publishes no harm statement for this plant. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
What the sources say about its care
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shadeRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Water
- Moist but well-drainedRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Humidity
No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.
ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026- Temperature
How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.
H6 — -20 to -15°C -20 to -15 °CRHS · read 13 September 2026- Soil
- Clay, Loam, Sand; pH Acid or Alkaline or NeutralRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to cats
- Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to dogs
- Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Harmful to people
- No statement of harm to people is published for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.RHS · read 13 September 2026
How it usually goes wrong
- Brown, papery patches on the leaves nearest the glass
Scorched leaves on the Chinese peony turn from pale to brown and brittle, and the damage stops where the shade of another leaf fell across it.
Full sun or partial shade is what its source names, and outdoors that sun comes with moving air that cools the foliage. Behind still glass the same light heats the tissue well above the room, and the exposed patches dry out first.
Telling it apart: Whether the patches grow. Scorch is done once it happens; a leaf spot keeps spreading.
RHSChinese peony brown leaf tips and edges: causes- Buds that yellow and drop on a leafy plant
Buds appear on the Chinese peony and then fall while still closed, often within days of the plant being moved, turned or left to dry out.
Its source places it in full sun, partial shade. A bud formed in that light and then turned away from it, or left in drying compost, is the first thing the plant gives up.
Telling it apart: What happened in the fortnight before the buds dropped. A move, a turned pot or a dry spell is the usual answer.
RHSChinese peony leaves turning yellow: causes- Dry, bruised edges after a cold, windy spell
The damage on the Chinese peony is one-sided and appeared all at once: browned margins, splits and bruised leaves facing the prevailing wind, while the sheltered side is clean.
RHS describes it as needing shelter. Moving air dries leaf surfaces quickly and bruises soft tissue, so a plant in a windy spot is marked on the side the wind reaches.
Telling it apart: Whether it followed stormy weather. Damage that appeared overnight after wind is weather; damage that develops over weeks is something else.
RHSChinese peony brown leaf tips and edges: causes- Leaf tips go crisp and brown
A narrow dry border on the Chinese peony, often with a faint yellow line against the healthy tissue. It appears on several leaves at once rather than spreading from one.
Heated air holds less water than the plant loses into it, so moisture leaves the leaf faster than it arrives. Penn State Extension cites ASHRAE's indoor range of 30% to 60% relative humidity, and winter heating often takes a room below it. That applies while it is grown indoors; its RHS rating of H6 describes a plant that also grows outside, where the air is seldom that dry.
Telling it apart: What else in the room changed. Edges that browned when the radiators came on point at the air rather than at the watering.
Penn State ExtensionChinese peony brown leaf tips and edges: causes- Yellow, limp leaves at the base
Yellow spreads upward through the Chinese peony a few leaves at a time, and the compost darkens and stays cold to the touch.
Soil described as moist but well-drained is a drainage instruction as much as a watering one. Compost that stays saturated suffocates the fine roots that do the drinking.
Telling it apart: The soil, not the leaf. Wet compost under yellowing leaves points one way and dry compost the other, and the leaves alone will not tell you which.
RHSChinese peony leaves turning yellow: causes
Not sure which it is? Ask the diagnosis questions for Chinese peony.
Routine care
- Propagation
- Divide in autumn or early spring.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pruning
- Remove flowers as they fade, then, as the leaves die back in autumn, cut the plant back.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pests and diseases
- Can be troubled by swift moth larvae in the soil and by leaf and bud eelworm. Diseases: peony wilt, peony leaf blotch, Verticillium wilt, honey fungus and a virus.RHS · read 13 September 2026
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Photographs
About the plant
Paeonia lactiflora is a species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Paeoniaceae, native to central and eastern Asia from eastern Tibet across northern China to eastern Siberia.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026
- Native range
- SE. Siberia to N. & E. ChinaWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026ChinaRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Climate
- temperateWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- Growth form
- perennialWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026Clump forming (deciduous)RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Size
- Height 0.5-1 metres; spread 0.5-1 metres after 2–5 yearsRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Flowering
- Flowers pink in summer; white in summerRHS · read 13 September 2026
Common problems with Chinese peony
Plants with similar care
African violetBrown tips on the newest leaves first
Bigleaf hydrangeaA thin dry rim that crumbles between the fingers
Bird of paradiseCrisp margins that appear in winter
Busy LizzieBrown brittle margins with a green centre
Calla lilyEdges of the leaves brown while the middle stays sound
CamelliaBrown brittle margins with a green centre
Sources
- ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Wikipedia · read 13 September 2026
What this does not cover
The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.
Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.
If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.