Tab. 5536. 



DIANTHUS Chinensis, var. laciniatus. 



Indian Pink, var. with deeply-cut petals'. 



Nat. Ord. Cabyophyllace.e. — Decandeia Digynia. 

 Gen. Char. {Vide supra, Tab. 2744.) 



DrAXTitus Chinensis. (Spec. Char, vide supra, Tab. 25.) 



D. Chinensis, L., var. laciniatus, Kegel, " corolla maxima in diametro 4 pollices 

 latiore, petalis cuneatis apice nmbriato-laciniatis basi elongate cuneata in- 

 tegerrima." Gartenflora, 1858, p. 8. t. 219. Fl. des Serres, t. 1289. 



D. cincinnatus. Lem. Z'lllust. Hort. xi. t. 388. 



It is not a little remarkable that of the beautiful genus Dian- 

 thus not a single species has been figured in the ' Botanical Ma- 

 gazine ' since the year 1827. Nor does our annexed Plate re- 

 present either a new species or even a species figured for the 

 first time in this series. There can be no doubt of the specific 

 identity of the gay plant on the opposite page, bearing flowers 

 four inches in diameter, with the modest little Indian Pink figured 

 in the first volume of the ' Botanical Magazine ' (Tab. 25). The 

 differences between these extreme forms, though perhaps even 

 more marked, are altogether analogous to those which obtain 

 between the figures, dated respectively 1804 (Tab. 758) and 

 1854 (Tab. 4816) of Kniphofia Uvaria. They are differences 

 which, we have evidence to show, are due to the continued in- 

 fluence of rich soil or to the skill of cultivators through some 

 other medium. The favourite Indian Pink appears, like the 

 Zinnia, after long cultivation in Europe and Japan, to have 

 broken out into several very striking varieties, well worthy of the 

 attention of our florists. Of the more remarkable forms several 

 have been carefully described and figured in Regel's c Garten- 

 flora ' (Tabb. 216, 240; see also Fl. des Serres, 1150 and 

 1288), and it is to the form which Dr. Regel distinguishes as 

 I>. Chinemis-laciniatus, that the plant here figured by Mr. Fitch 

 belongs. The tendency to variation is by no means confined to 



OCTOBEB 1st, 1865. 



