It is a parent of the popular hybrid 'White Innocence', which reaches 1+1⁄2 m.[3] The Himalayan peony is a diploid nothospecies with ten chromosomes (2n=10), that results from hybridisation between P. lactiflora and P.

This develops into a densely hairy or hairless follicle of 2–3+1⁄2 cm, which contains several roundish seeds which are scarlet at first but turn brownish black if fertile in August or September.

[10] This peony naturally occurs from Afghanistan and southern Tibet (Gyirong County), to western Nepal and grows at an altitude of 1800–2500 m in thickets.

In Uttarakhand it occurs together with Impatiens thomsonii, I. sulcata, Erigeron multiradiatus, Viola canescens, Trifolium pratense, Pennisetum flaccidum, Murdannia divergens, Euphorbia peplus and Hemiphragma heterophyllum.

[12] Paeonia emodi is used in traditional medicine in its home range to treat amongst others diarrhoea, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, palpitation, asthma and arteriosclerosis.

[11] Research illustrated that an ethanol extract of P. emodi suppressed the growth of common duckweed (50% at 50 μg/ml), and was moderately effective in killing some insects (red flour beetle).

[13] US chemistry professor and peony breeder Arthur Percy Saunders made a cross between P. emodi and P. lactiflora that is now known as "White Innocence" (1947), an extremely tall (up to 1.5 m), richly flowering and well-known cultivar.