Peony question

I have a friend that has one type in his yard. He got them around 1940's. When they come up they have a single flower on a stem. The newer one have multi-flowers. He only has red. Can anyone tell me what kind of peony these are?

Here are two pic(s).

Here is the other one - Sorry about that.

This message was edited Sep 12, 2005 6:59 PM

Here it is:

I don't know...but it's a beauty. I really like the way the bloom stands straight and tall. Deb

Gorgeous color! I wonder if it maybe needs splitting? And maybe it is planted a bit too deep and thats why so few flowers? I have a Gardening for Goofs book by a local author. One of the questions is When should I split my peonies? The answer is about every 40 years!
The house I grew up in (in the 50'3) built in the 20's had a peony in the front yard and it is still there! Was moved once when my parents rebuild the front porch. Always bloomed beautifully.

Splitting and planting too deep is not the problem. My Friend has over 50 of these red single peonies and they all have single flowers. They have always had single flowers. He was hoping that someone else had these and he could find out some information about them.
Thanks

From looking at the leaves, I would say it is a Jap. peony or fern leaf peony. In our area we call them decoration day peonies as they always bloom around that time.

Maxine that's not a fern leaf peony. I wouldnt even call it a single - unless mnorberry is just referring to the one flower per stem aspect.

When the plant comes out of the ground, it has a bud already formed.