STUDIES TO SUPPORT THE PROCLAMATION OF PEONY AS ROMANIA’S NATIONAL FLOWER

摘要

Many countries have one or more national flowers representative of the geographic area or culture and traditions. In Romania, several proposals have been made for choosing a national flower but none of the proposals has been finalized by a legislative act to formalize the national flower. The authors of this article suggest that peony be proclaimed Romania's national flower. Among the arguments of this proposal there are: peony species with high ornamental potential biological and growing naturally in several parts of the country, in reserves protected by law; besides spontaneous species there are also cultivated species, found in a variety of significant shapes and colours (100-130 species and cultivars taxa identified to date); the peony flowers are very popular in the whole country, often being subject of traditions, music, poetry, literature and painting of the Romanian people; to honor peony, festivals and celebrations are held annually in many areas of the country; the beauty and grace of the plants (especially the flowers) and their biological qualities (perennial productivity, technological flexibility, adaptability ecological), The peony species are almost never absent from parks and gardens and enable the development of other types of exceptional floral arrangements: in the consciousness of the Romanian people, physical and spiritual beauty are often associated with peony, as evidenced by the widespread use of the name of peony and its derivatives for family name, first name, city name, street name, name of birds and animals; in addition to its ornamental use, the peony is used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. The paper will further develop these arguments. In addition, the present work will describe all species of peony that are common in our country, as well as the geographic areas were wild species of peony are present. Together with this presentation, the authors propose actions to popularize the importance and beauty of the herbaceous peony species and to formalize them as Romania's national flower. To this end, the paper will be accompanied by lists of adhesion and will be presented in other specialized universities and research institutions in our country. After gathering the necessary signatures, we propose to proclaim the peony as the national flower of Romania by law in the Romanian Parliament.