Peonies are a really big group of flowering plants in the genus Paeonia. When we look at how to grow peonies from cuttings we must be cognisant of the fact that they take up three broad growth forms,
If you grow a plant from a seed, it will produce a genetically unique plant. When this plant gets mature it will produce seeds and these, if grown, will produce genetically unique plants.
In my case I actually had no idea what I was doing and just took a few peonie branches, cut them off, and defoliated the leaves a bit, leaving just a few growth shoots and leaves.
When we look at how to grow peonies from cuttings it appears I just lucked out with the method I used above and that they are generally quite difficult plants to get to root from cuttings.
There is always that lucky moment when you may get something like this right, but generally, they do not root in water. The plants just dry out and die over time when left in water.
Peonies have been used for medicinal purposes in the traditional medicines of many cultures. In China specifically, these plants have a history of use dating back thousands of years.
The main medicinal compounds in peonies that are propagated for commercial medicine production are the phenolic ketone, paenol, and the monoterpene glucoside paeniflorin.