CHAPTER V 



THE MALMAISON CARNATION 

 By James Douglas 



1HAVE been frequently asked to give the origin 

 of the Malmaison Carnation, the correct name of 

 which is Souvenir de la Malmaison. The flower 

 and plant are so different from that of other Carna- 

 tions that it would be interesting if its origin could 

 be traced. The Empress Josephine was an ardent 

 cultivator of Carnations, and her gardens at that time 

 were under the superintendence of the botanist Bonp- 

 land. He may have raised it and named it after 

 Malmaison, the residence of the Empress. This is 

 the most probable solution of the question ; it may 

 have come as a chance seedling. It has been cer- 

 tainly many years in cultivation, longer indeed than 

 any Carnation known to me. About twenty-five or 

 thirty years ago it became very common, so much 

 so that the late Mr. Charles Turner informed me that 

 he threw away a houseful of plants because no one 

 cared to purchase them. Some years after the same 

 houseful would have been bought at a high price. 

 So much for the vagaries of fashion in flowers as in 

 most other things. 



