Abstract This review highlights the advances made on various aspects of herbaceous peony ( Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) tissue culture, including the in vitro culture of underground buds, leaves and petioles, the induction of cluster buds, and callus induction. Tissue culture has the ability of speeding up the rate of propagation, reducing breeding time and meeting the needs of mass production. Problems that are currently being faced in herbaceous peony tissue culture are highlighted and possible viable solutions are provided. Since the vast majority of peony literature is published in Chinese, this review provides a unique and valuable resource and spring-board from which to initiate or further studies related to the in vitro culture of herbaceous peony.