It is a herbaceous perennial 0.5–1.5 m (1.6–4.9 ft) tall,[2] with leaves that are divided into three segments, and large red flowers in late spring and early summer.

Native to Syria, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Cyprus, Montenegro, Bulgaria[3] Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Israel,[1] this wild peony has become naturalised on two small islands in the UK.

The Wild Peony prefers acid and neutral soils, can grow in semi-shade and tolerates drought.

One remaining plant was reintroduced by the Flat Holm Warden in 1982 and is protected by fencing near the path to the lighthouse.

[7] Paeonia mascula flowers for just one week of the year normally in May or June in the Northern Hemisphere, and the seedpods (at one stage referred to as 'jester's hats') develop during the summer before bursting open to scatter seeds in August or September.