CHAPTER I 



The Origin and Early History of the Carnation 



THE carnation, Dianthus Caryophyllus, erroneously called "Pink" by 

 many people, is a native of southern Europe. As found in its wild 

 state, it is a half hardy herbaceous perennial, growing about two feet 

 in height. The original flower was either of flesh color or a shade of pinkish 

 mauve. It was a single bloom, about one inch in diameter, composed of 

 five broad petals. Its natural period of blooming in the feral state is from 

 June to August. 



The carnation is abundant in Normandy, France, and it is believed by 

 some writers that it was introduced into Great Britain from that country. So 

 recently as 1874, Ellacombe found it covering the old castle of Falaise, in 

 which ^Villiam the Conqueror was born. It is found in England on many 

 of the old castles of Norman construction ; and the same writer is of the 

 belief that it was introduced there " by the Norman builders, perhaps, as a 

 pleasant memory of their Norman houses ; though it may have been acci- 

 dentally introduced with the Normandy (Caen) stone, of which part of the 

 castles are built." 



The history of the carnation antedates the time of Christ, as it was 

 mentioned and described by Theophrastus as long ago as 300 years B. C. 

 Theophrastus gave the genus the name of Dianthus, from the Greek dies, 

 divine, and anthos, flower. The specific name, Caryophyllus, from the Greek 

 Caryon, meaning nut, and Phyllon, meaning leaf, was undoubtedly taken 

 from the name of the clove tree (Caryophyllus aromaticus), and applied to the 

 species because of the clove-like fragrance of its blooms. The common 

 name, carnation, is generally supposed to be derived from the Latin carnis, 

 flesh, and refers to the flesh-colored flowers of the original type. Old writers, 

 however, particularly those of the sixteenth century, allude to the plant as the 

 "Coronation," having reference to the employment of the flowers in the 

 classic coronse, or chaplets ; or, as Lyte has it, from "the flowers dented, or 

 toothed above — like to a littell crownet." 



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