D I A 



OR, BOTANICAL, DICTIONARY. 



DI A 



451 



the first. There is a great variety of very rich colours in 

 these flowers, which annually vary when raised from seeds. 

 The double flowers are most esteemed, though the colours of 

 the single ones are most distinct and beautiful ; for the mul- 

 tiplicity of petals in the double flowers in a great measure 

 hides the deep shades which lie towards the lowest part of 

 the petals. These plants are propagated by seeds, which 

 should be sown upon a gentle hot-bed about the beginning 

 of April : this moderate heat is merely intended to accelerate 

 the vegetation of the seeds ; therefore, when the plants come 

 up, they must have a large share of air admitted to them, to 

 prevent their drawing up weak ; and, as soon as the weather 

 will permit, they should be exposed to the open air. Three 

 weeks or n month afterwards, they will be fit to remove, and 

 should then be carefully taken up with good roots, and 

 planted in a bed of rich earth, at about three inches asunder, 

 being careful to shade them from the sun until they have 

 taken new root, and in dry weather to water them three or 

 fourtimes a week ; they will then only require weeding till the 

 end of May, at which time they may be transplanted to the 

 places where they are designed to remain for flowering, when 

 they may be taken up with large balls of earth to their roots, 

 so as scarcely to feel their removal, especially if it happen to 

 ruin at that time. As they do not grow large plants, so when 

 they are planted singly in the borders of the flower-garden, 

 they do not make so fine an appearance as where they are 

 planted by themselves in beds, or if they be planted in small 

 clumps of six or eight roots each, where the flowers being of 

 different colours, will set each other off to advantage. Thobe 

 who are curious in these flowers, take particular care in saving 

 their seeds, never permitting any single flowers to stand 

 among the double, but pull them up as soon as they display 

 their flowers, and also draw out all those which arc not of 

 lively good colours. Where this is observed, the flowers may 

 be kept in great perfection ; but where the seeds cau be 

 exchanged once every two or three years, with trusty friends 

 who live at some distance, it is much better to change fchaa 

 to continue sowing seeds in the same place many years hi 

 succession. 



];. Dianthus Monspdiacus ; MontpeUier Pink. Calicine 

 scales subulate, straight, a little shorter than the tube ; corol- 

 las many-cleft ; stem erect. It is a perennial plant, and 

 grows wild about MontpeUier, Verona, and in Piedmont. 



)". Dianthus Plumarius ; leathered Pink. Calicine 

 scales subovate, very short, much blunted and awnlees ; co- 

 rollas many-cleft. Stems asceiulingii foot or eighteen inches 

 in height, branched ; flowers, one, two, seldom three, at the 

 end* of the branches, sweet -scented ; petals large, light red, 

 or bright purple, sometimes white, with a circle of red 

 deeply jagged, having a red down at the base of the lamina 

 nr border ; anthers- red. It flowers from June to August, 

 aad is perennial. Native of rocks, mountain pastures, and 

 dry woody places, in North America. 



18. Dianthus Crinitus ; Hairy Pink. Calicine scales, oval, 

 mucronate, subdiverging, one-third of the length of the tube; 

 petals many-cleft, beardless. Stalks a spun hit 1 h, smooth and 

 even ; flowers two or four on a stalk, erect ; petals narrow, 

 irregularly cut to the base in very fine segments. It varies 

 with a white flower. Found by Tournefort in Armenia. 



3i>. Dianthus Supcrbus ; Saprrb Pink. Flowers punicled; 

 cufcine scales very short, acuminate ; petals cloven into 

 many capillary segments. Stem erect. The stem is u foot 

 nr eighteen inches in height, procumbent at the base, and 

 then erect; round, somewhat two-edged on the upper part, 

 omnth, branching only at top ; leaves like those of the nar- 

 row-leaTedSweet-william ; petals pule-rcd colour, sometimes 



white, hairy at the base of the border, sprinkled with bloody 

 spots. The flowers smell very sweet, especially in the even- 

 ing; capsule cylindrical, a little longer than the calix, glitter- 

 ing like gold-dust, smooth, four-parted. According to some. 

 it is perennial, while others reckon it biennial, and even an- 

 nual. Mr. Miller asserts, that the roots will live three or four 

 years, but that the flowers are in their greatest beauty tin- 

 second year from seeds. Native of Denmark, Lapland, Ger- 

 many, Switzerland, France, Italy, and Spain : flowering 

 from July to September. This deserves a place in every gar 

 den, on account of the elegance and delicious fragrance of 

 the flowers. It grows naturally in a calcareous soil, and will 

 thrive luxuriantly in a garden, if chalk be mixed with tin- 

 common mould, but not otherwise. 



ao. Diauthus Attenuates ; Diminished Pink. Calicine 

 scales short, lanceolate, acuminate, about six ; tube attenu- 

 ated at the top ; petals crenate. Stalks diffused, woody at 

 bottom, twisted, branching very much ; flowering-branches 

 ascending a foot long, leafy, round, smooth, divided at top 

 into two or three branches, which are one-flowered ; flowers 

 flesh-coloured, void of scent. Native of the south of France, 

 near the coast, 



*** Stem one-lowered, herbaceous. 



21. Dianthus Arenarius ; Sand Pink. Stem bearing one 

 or two flowers ; calicine scales ovate, obtuse ; petals many- 

 cleft ; leaves linear. Stem a span in length, sustaining one 

 flower ; root-leaves abundant, in bundles, smooth, narrow, 

 obtuse, stiffish ; petals white, not crenate, smelling very 

 sweet, especially in the evening. Mr. Miller says that tile 

 flower is sweet, but pale-coloured and small. It flowers in 

 May and June ; and is a native of Scania, in drifting sand ; 

 of Silesia, on the borders of Saxony ; of the mountains of 

 ( arniola, and 1'iedmont ; and is found on old walls and 

 buildings in any part of England. 



W. Dianthus Alpinus ; Alpine Pink. Corollas crennte ; 

 outer calicine scales leafy, almost equalling the tube. Hoof 

 woody, perennial, putting forth many stems of a ringers 

 length, having three joints ; leaves on the stem linear, blunt- 

 isii. flat ; root-leaves in tufts, linear-lanceolate.-* Native of the 

 Alps, Silesia, Austria, Stiria, and Siberia, in rough stony 

 places ; flowering in June and July. 



2.">. Dianthus \ irgineus ; Upright Pink. One or two 

 inodorous flowers on the stem ; petals crenate ; ealicim- 

 scales very short and blunt, in pairs. Uoot perennial ; lower 

 leaves copious, erect, in an imbricate tuft, acuminate, like 

 those of Thrift ; steins few, a span in height, having four 

 very simple joints with smaller leaves, the uppermost very 

 small, arising from a perfoliate sheath, decumbent, not pros- 

 trate. It flowers in June and July. Native of the Alps, the 

 south of France, Austria, Carniola, &c. 

 **** Shrubby. 



24. Diauthus Arboreus. Stem shrubby ; leaves oblong, 

 somewhat fleshy ; calk-ine scales numerous, blunt, closely 

 imbricate, very short. Stalks eighteen inches and more in 

 height, white, round, smooth, jointed, woody, branched ; 

 leaves glaucous, an inch and half long, narrow, rigid, mucro- 

 nate ; petals pale purple, striated a little beyond the middle 

 marked with a dark-red dotted line, forming a ring, below 

 which they are lii.uuginous ; they are lso cut about the edge. 

 -Native of the island of Candia. This, with the two fol- 

 lowing species, are noble ornamental plants, which, it is to 

 be lamented, are lost to our gardens. 



25. Diantlms Fruticosus. Stem shrubby, twisted, two 

 feet iUigh, brittle, hard, covered with a dark cloven bark ; 

 leaves lanceolate, an inch long, and three or four lines broad, 

 obtuse, fleshy, brittle, bitter as gall, growing in tufte ; flowers 



