127 



THE CARNATION IN IRELAND. 



By F. W. BuRBijjGE, M.A., F.L.S. 



Ireland cannot claim a solitary S23ecies of I)ian- 

 tlius as a real inhabitant of her mountains and 

 shores. England, on the other hand, can boast of 

 tive, even, if not six species, and, as Mr. F. N. 

 Williams, F.L.S., the monographer of the Garyo- 

 Xjliyllm, tells us, there are not much less than 

 250 species now known wild somewhere or other 

 in both hemispheres. There are actually five or 

 six species of Dianthus found wild in the Transvaal. 

 Mr. Williams tells us that our cultivated or 

 garden forms of Dianthus — the genus to which the 

 Carnation belongs — have originated by culture and 

 selection, and possibly by hybridisation also, from 

 five species, four of which are British or European, 

 and one is from India, China, and Japan. 



These species are : — 1. D. barbed us, the Cluster 

 Pink or Sweet-William. 2. D. deUoides (" Maiden 

 Pink "), which is the probable origin of the Early 

 Red Pink and the Pheasant Eye varieties. 3. I). 

 phiiniarms f' Common Pink "), from which came 

 the fringed White Pinks, single and double. 4. D. 

 sme?!^^^ (" Chinese Pink ") ; and 5. D. caryoplnjllus 



