JMNK. 58 



THE CHINA OR INDIAN PINK. Diantkus 

 Chinensis, 



" With hues on hues expression cannot paint. 

 The breath of nature and lier endless bloom." 



Thomson. 



This gaily-painted flower, which we have bor- 

 rowed from the fertile soil of China to decorate 

 the gardens of Europe, seems to form a link be- 

 tween the Sweet-William and the fragrant Pink, 

 partaking in some measure of the character of 

 each ; in richness of colour it excels the former 

 flower, and its time of flowering is of much longer 

 duration, since it generally commences to expand 

 its corollas in July, which follow each other in 

 succession until the frost forbids our hardiest 

 flowers to shine ; but as the flowers are placed 

 singly on branching stems like those of the com- 

 mon Pink, they never present that fine mass of 

 colour which the large umbel of the Sweet-Wil- 

 liam exhibits, and they are entirely deficient of 

 the fragrance for which the Pink is so much ad- 

 mired, yet we must acknowledge them an acqui- 

 sition to the parterre, from the glowing and vivid 

 red colours they display. 



