I 6 THE CARNATION FAMILY 



D. PLUMARius, the Feathered Pink, or Pheasant's Eye, being 

 the parent of the numberless race of Garden Pinks, a very 

 famous species; and D. superbus, commonly known as the 

 Fringed Pink. 



The natural order Caryophyllacese, Pink or Clove- 

 wort order, is described in Oliver's " Systematic Botany," 

 as: ''Herbs with swollen nodes; opposite, sessile and 

 usually connate, entire, and usually exstipulate leaves; 

 and regular cymose flowers. Sepals 4-5, free or connate; 

 the other parts of the flower sometimes separated from the 

 calyx by a short stalk or gynophore. Petals 4-5, rarely 

 wanting, usually clawed, hypogynous or sub-perigynous. 

 Stamens 8-10, or rarely fewer, hypogynous or sub-perigy- 

 nous; filaments sometimes connate at the base. Ovary 

 i-celled by breaking down of the dissepiments in growth, or 

 3-5-ceIled at the base, with few or numerous ovules arising 

 from the free-central placenta or axis; styles 2-5, stigmatic 

 down the inner surface. Fruit a capsule dehiscing by 

 valves or short teeth. Seeds small, albuminous, with a 

 usually curved embryo and a sculptured testa. A large 

 order, occurring chiefly in the temperate and cold regions 

 of the Northern hemisphere; some of them extending into 

 Arctic and high mountain regions; and having affinities 

 with Portulacese, Illecebraceae, and Chenopodiacese. 

 They are mostly devoid of active properties, a few only 

 containing the deleterious principle called saponine." The 

 principal genera or families of the order are Dianthus, or 

 Pink; Saponaria, or Soapwort; Silene, or Catchfly; 

 Lychnis, or Campion; Sagina, or Pearlwort; Arenaria, or 

 Sandwort; Cerastium, or Chickweed; Stellaria, or 

 Stitchwort; and Gypsophila, or Babv's Breath. 



