MOU-TAN or Peony Shrub of China: also called hou-chuang, or "the king of flowers," and pekang-kia, "an hundred ounces of gold," in allusion to the excessive price given formerly by some of the virtuosi for certain species of this plant. The mou-tan seems to claim pre-eminence, not only on account of the splendour and number of its flowers, and of the sweet odour which they diffuse around, but also on account of the multitude of leaves which compose them, and of the beautiful golden spots with which they are interspersed. This plant, which is of a shrubby nature, shoots forth a number of branches, which form a top almost as large as those of the finest orange trees.