CHEDDAR PINK 141 



The English names are Faverel, Whitlow Grass, Nailwort. White 

 Blow. The flowers droop at night and in wet weather. In Sweden 

 they sow their rye when the Whitlow Grass is in flower. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



28. Erophila verna, E. Meyer. Stem (flowering) leafless, leaves 

 radical, lanceolate, acute, dentate, hairy, petals white, deeply cloven, 

 capsule a compressed oval pouch, many-seeded. 



Cheddar Pink (Dianthus glaucus, Huds.) 



This plant is quite unknown except from its present-day distribu- 

 tion, which is from Belgium southwards to Lombardy and Hungary. 

 It is native in these islands only at its single locality in North Somer- 

 sets, on the rocks of Cheddar Gorge, and it is only introduced in 

 Oxford and Edinburgh; and in Northampton, W 7 est Gloucester, South 

 Lines, and Westmorland it is erroneously recorded as native. 



Cheddar Gorge, which is a valley cut through Carboniferous rocks 

 and calcareous, is the only locality for this charming pink, called from 

 its single British station the Cheddar Pink. In the minds of the 

 country traveller and the botanist this locality is thus rendered doubly 

 famous, first for the reputed Cheddar Cheese, and last, but not least, 

 for the Cheddar Pink. Over the limestone rocks at this place it grows 

 in patches like Thrift at the seaside; but this plant is eminently a lime- 

 loving plant, the other sand-loving. 



Like other pinks and carnations, e.g. the Common Clove, the 

 Cheddar Pink grows in tufts on the rocks, having a woody rootstock 

 and numerous stems. The leaves are linear, blunt, with rough edges, 

 bluish -green, and the barren stems are much branched. 



The flower-stalks are usually single, in panicles or solitary. The 

 petals are rosy, inversely egg-shaped, notched, downy. The calyx 

 scales are roundish, blunt, only \ as long as the calyx and pressed 

 close together, and the flower is scented. 



The plant is not more than 3 in. high when barren, the flowering 

 stems are 6-8 in. It is in bloom in June and July. Like others of 

 the group it is perennial, and increased by cuttings. 



Honey-glands in D. deltoides, the pollination of which is similar 

 to that of this plant, are formed by the union of petals and stamens 

 at the base. The stamens and pistil nearly close the narrow tube, 

 making it impossible for any but moths to get at the honey. Other 

 insects, such as flies, are pollen-seekers. The flower is conspicuous, 

 being flattened above. There are 10 stamens. Five project, and 



