Paeonia obovata is a perennial herbaceous species of peony of 30–70 cm high. It has white to purple-red flowers and its lower leaves consist of no more than nine leaflets or segments. In China the vernacular name of the typical subspecies is 草芍药 (cǎo sháo yào), meaning "grass peony", while ssp. willmottiae is known as 拟草芍药 (nǐ cǎo sháo yào), "false grass peony". In Russia this species is called Пион обратно-овальный (Pion obratno-oval'nyy), or "inverted egg-shaped peony". In Japanese, it is known as ヤマシャクヤク (yamashakuyaku), meaning "mountain peony". In English it is sometimes called woodland peony. It grows naturally in warm-temperate to cold China, including Manchuria, and in Korea, Japan, Far Eastern Russia (Primorsky Krai) and on Sakhalin.