D I A 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



D I A 



445 



nating ; leaves lanceolate-ovate, acuminate ; antherae awn- 

 less. Stemerect, roundish, even, jointed; joints three inches 

 long, narrowed at bottom ; branohlets axillary, filiform, tin. 

 length of tb joints ; flowers in whorls, two or three on each 

 .de, on very short pedicels and small, the lower ones more 

 remote; bractes lanceolate, acuminate, a line in length; 

 corolla twice as long as the calix, smooth on the outside, 

 the throat dotted with violet. 



8. Dianthcra Sulcata. Stem herbaceous, grooved ; leaves 

 cordate-ovate; spikes terminating; lower antherae awned. 

 Stem erect, angular, six-grooved, pubescent, jointed ; the 

 internodes two or three inches long, and the joints swelling; 

 leaves opposite, obtuse, scarcely crenate, somewhat rtigged 

 along the nerves, a little villose, paler underneath, an inch 

 and half long, with alternate veins ; petioles the length of the 

 leaves; corolla villose on the outside, white, veined with 

 purple ; lower lip three-lobed ; the lobes oblong, obtuse, 

 equal. Native of Arabia Felix. 



9. Dianthera Flava. Suffruticose : leaves elliptic-lanceo- 

 late ; spikes terminating; lower antherae awned. Stem 

 shrubby, roundish, the thickness of a goose-quill ; branches 

 obscurely quadrangular, subpubescent, scored with a line 

 along the sides ; the internodes an inch long; the joints 

 welling ; leaves opposite, quite entire, thinly hairy, twice as 

 long as the internodes, with alternate veins, on short petioles. 



10. Dianthera Debilis. Stem shrubby ; spikes solitary, 

 imbricate, axillary, and terminating ; bractes ovate, ciliate. 

 Branches obscurely quadrangular, four-grooved, with hairs 

 pointing backwards ; leaves opposite, lanceolate, narrowed 

 at the base into a very short petiole, quite entire, bluritisb, 

 veinless, having four parallel villose nerves underneath, and 

 being only half the length of the internodes. 



11. Dianthera Violacea. Stem shrubby ; spikes terminat- 

 ing, imbricate; bractes lanceolate, ciliate ; flowers bicalicled. 

 Branches powdered and villose, obscurely quadrangular; the 

 angles scarcely scored with a line ; the internodes an inch 

 and half long ; leaves opposite, lower oblong, upper lanceo- 

 late, rounded at the base, quite entire, smooth, bright green, 

 einless nearly the length of the internodes.on short petioles; 

 spike cylindric, half an inch long, on a very slender peduncle. 



11. Dianthera Bicaliculata. Flowers panicled, bicalicled ; 

 panicles dichotomous. Stem herbaceous ; leaves opposite, 

 ovate, acuminate, quite entire, petioled, panicled, axillary ; 

 pedicels bifid, often trifid; corolla purple, bilabiate, divided; 

 antherae divaricated. It is annual ; and flowers here in 

 August. Native of the East Indies and Arabia Felix. 



Dianthus ; a genus of the class Decandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth cylindric, tu- 

 bular, striated, permanent, five-toothed at the mouth, sur- 

 rounded at the base with four scales, of which the two 

 opposite are lower. Corolla: petals five ; claws length of 

 the calix, narrow, inserted into the receptacle ; border flat ; 

 the plates outwardly wider, obtuse, crenate. Stamina .- fila- 

 menta ten, subulate, length of the calix, with spreading tips : 

 antherae oval, oblong, compressed, incumbent. Pistil : 

 germen oval ; styles two, subulate, longerthan the stamina; 

 stigmas bent back, acuminate. Pericarp: capsule cylin- 

 dric, covered, one-celled, gaping open at top four ways. 

 Seeds : a great many, compressed, roundish ; receptacle free, 

 four-cornered, shorter by half than the pericarp. ESSEXTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Cain : cylindric, one-leafed, with four scales 

 at the base. Petals : five, with claws. Capsule: cylindric, 

 one-celled. These beautiful plants are chiefly herbaceous ; 

 some few, however, are suffruticose. Most of them are 

 hardy and perennial, or biennial ; some of the smaller wild 

 orts only are annual. The species are, 



voi. i. 38, 



* Flowers aggregate. 



1 . Dianthus Barbatus ; Bearded Pink, commonly called 

 Sweet-william. Flowers in bundles ; calicine scales ovate- 

 subulate, equal to the tube in length ; leaves lanceolate. It 

 has a perennial fusiform root ; stem upright, jointed, smooth, 

 a foot and half high, branched ; leaves soft, veined, connate, 

 from half an inch to almost an inch broad in the widest part, 

 bright green ; bundles of flowers compact, umbellecl, sessile ; 

 petals serrate when wild, red, either plain or spotted with 

 white, smaller than in many of the genus. The variations of 

 colour are numerous, and might have been more so if this 

 species had attracted the same minute attention as the Pink 

 and Carnation. The principal varieties are, 1. Broad-leaved 

 Sweet-william ; 2. Narrow-leaved, or Sweet-john : each of 

 these have the flowers one single and two double. The prin- 

 cipal variations of colour are, 1. deep red; 2. pale red, rose- 

 coloured, flesh-coloured ; 3. purple, inclining to blue ; 4. 

 purple and white ; 5. white-spotted ; 6. red with white bor- 

 ders, and purple with white borders ; 7. pure white, with all 

 the intermediate shades of the above colours, both single and 

 double. The broad-leaved, with very double flowers of a 

 deep purple, inclining to blue, bursting the calix, is not so 

 much esteemed. The double-rose Sweet-william, with flow- 

 ers of a fine deep rose-colour, and smelling sweet, is much 

 valued, for it does not burst. The mule, or Fairchild's 

 Sweet-william, is one of the narrow-leaved sorts ; it is sup- 

 posed to have been produced from the seeds of a Carnation, 

 impregnated by a Sweet-william ; the flowers are ofa brighter 

 red than either of the former, and have an agreeable odour, 

 but their bunches are not quite so large. Native of Germa- 

 ny and Carniola. Some of the single flowers have very rich 

 colours, which frequently vary in those of the same bunch ; 

 there are others with fine variegated flowers, and others whose 

 middles are of a soft red bordered with white, which are 

 called Painted Ladies; but whoever is desirous of preserving 

 any of these varieties in perfection, should particularly mark 

 the best flowers of each, and permit no other to stand near 

 them, lest their farina should impregnate them. That which 

 is called the Painted-lady Sweet-william, is a very beautiful 

 variety ; the stalks of this do not rise so high as most of the 

 others ; the bunches of flowers are larger, and produced 

 more in the form of an umbel ; the flowers standing equal iu 

 height, make a better appearance : there are others whose 

 stalks rise three feet high, and the flowers of a very deep red 

 or scarlet colour. These all flower at the same time as the 

 Carnations, which reduces their value, as they have no scent. 

 They must be renewed annually, to retain them in perfection. 

 The single sorts are generally propagated by seeds, which 

 must be sown in the latter end of March or the beginning of 

 April, in a bed of light earth, and in June they will be fit to 

 transplant out ; at which time prepare some beds ready for 

 them, and set them at six inches' distance every way : in 

 these beds they may remain till Michaelmas, and ought then 

 to be transplanted into the borders of the pleasure-garden or 

 wilderness. They will flower the next year in June, and per- 

 fect their seed in August. The seeds should be saved from 

 the best-coloured flowers for a supply. They may also be 

 jropagated by slipping their roots at Michaelmas ; but this is 

 seldom practised, because seedling roots always blow the 

 strongest, and produce new varieties. Double Sweet-williams 

 ire propagated by cuttings, (or, as the florists term them, 

 >ipings) or layers, like Pinks and Carnations ; they love a 

 niddling soil, not too light, nor too heavy or stiff, nor too 

 much dunged, which very often occasions their rotting. They 

 continue flowering a long time, and are extremely beautiful, 

 especially the mule, which produces two full blooms of 



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