A Paeon By Any Other Name:

I love fresh flowers. Growing up in North Louisiana -- on the "Old Road" -- regardless of the season, we had fresh flowers on the table daily... daffodils, jonquils, irises, camellias, hydrangeas, roses, sunflowers, gardenias and magnolias, not to mention branches of bright yellow forsythia and branches of luscious salmon-colored quince. We never had peonies though and as it turns out, peonies are my favorite flower. Their fragrance is unmatched and heavenly -- lemony clean with just a touch of sweetness. They're also a beautifully showy flower that's featured in a lot of Japaneese paintings. Their petals are abstract and fluffy, and as Kathryn Krueger said, look "like some flustered bird after the rain."

The peony is considered to be the "Plant of Healing," and represents "Happy Life and Prosperity." It is believed that the peony is named after Paeon (also known as Paean), who was a healing deity. The flower myth says that Paeon was a student of Asclepius, the god of medicine and healing. He was once instructed by Leto (Apollo's mother and goddess of fertility) to obtain a magical root growing on Mount Olympus that would soothe the pain of women in childbirth. Asclepius became jealous and threatened to kill his pupil. Zeus saved Paeon from the wrath of Asclepius by turning him into the peony flower.