DIANELLA 



revol&ta, R. Br. Height 2-3 ft.: Ivs. in a rosette, 

 1-1^ ft. long, 3-4 lines wide, dark green, purplish at 

 the base and margin, not spiny at the margin: panicle 

 branches short, ascending; fls. later than D. cserulea; 

 veins of the perianth-segms. crowded into a central 

 space. W. and E. Austral, in temperate parts. Tas- 

 mania. B.R. 734 (as D. longifolia) ; 1120. 



AA. Lvs. more or less scattered on sts. that often branch 



at base. 



caerillea, Sims. Sub-shrubby, with a short st. in age, 

 branching: Ivs. about 6, clustered at the ends of 

 branches, 9-12 in. long, 6-9 lines wide, dark green, 

 rough on the back and margin: outer perianth-segms. 

 with 5 distant veins, inner ones with 3 closer veins. 

 E. Temp. Austral. B.M. 505. 



nemorfisa, Lam. (C. ensifolia, Red.) Caulescent 3-6 

 ft. high, the Ivs. never in a rosette, numerous, hard, 

 linear, 1-2 ft. long, 9-12 lines wide, lighter-colored on 

 the keel and margin : fls. blue or greenish white. Trop. 

 Asia, China, Austral., Hawaiian Isls. B.M. 1404. 



WILHELM MILLER. 

 L. H. B.f 



DIANTHERA (double anther referring to the sepa- 

 rated anther-cells). Acanthacese. WATER- WILLOW. 

 Herbs, mostly of greenhouses and warmhouses, and 

 sometimes of open planting in mild climates. 



Glabrous or pilose perennial herbs or sometimes 

 somewhat woody, mostly of wet places, with opposite, 

 mostly entire Ivs. : fls. mostly purplish or whitish, irregu- 

 lar, usually in axillary spikes, heads or fascicles, or the 

 clusters combined in a terminal thyrse; corolla slen- 

 der-tubed, 2-lipped, the upper lip erect and more or less 

 concave or arched and entire or 2-toothed, the lower 

 lip 3-lobed or 3-crenate and spreading, and with a 

 palate-like structure; anther-cells separated on a 

 broadened connective, not parallel with each other: fr. 

 an oblong or ovoid 2-celled caps., the seeds 4 or less: 

 floral bractlets small or minute. Probably more than 

 100 species, mostly in warm and tropical countries. 

 Lindau in Engler & Prantl unites it with Justicia 

 as a subgenus, and the number of species is estimated 

 as more than 70 in Trop. Amer. The diantheras are 

 little known in cult. D. Pohliana is to be found in 

 Jacobinia. The treatment given Jacobinia and Justicia 

 applies to these plants. 



americana, Linn. St. angled, 1-3 ft.: Ivs. narrow- 

 lanceolate, 3-4 in. long, nearly sessile: fls. several in a 

 close cluster with a peduncle mostly exceeding the Ivs., 

 pale violet or whitish, the corolla mostly less than 

 3^in. long, the tube shorter than the lips. In water, 

 Quebec to Wis., Ga. and Texas. Sometimes trans- 

 ferred to garden bogs and streams. 



secunda, Griseb. (Justicia secunda, Vahl). Nearly 

 glabrous, constricted at the nodes: Ivs. ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, acuminate: fls. crimson, short-pedicellate, 

 in a usually 1-sided panicle; lower lip 3-crenate. W. 

 Indies. B.M. 2060. 



pectoralis, Gmel. (Justicia pectoralis, Jacq.). GARDEN 

 BALSAM. St. slender, often woody, 1-3 ft.: Ivs. lanceo- 

 late-acuminate or nearly oblong, to 4 in. long: fls. rosy 

 or pale blue, with a parti-colored throat, rather dis- 

 tant in elongated branched mostly 1 -sided spikes. W. 

 Indies, Mex., Brazil. 



DIANTHUS 



997 



D. bullata, N. E. Br. St. terete, purplish: Ivs. elliptic, to4^ in. 

 long, short-stalked, cordate at base, bullate or puckered between 

 the veins, dark green above and purple-veined beneath : fls. white- 

 ish, small, clustered. Borneo. I.H. 33:589. A. handsome foliage 

 subject, with the appearance of a rubiaceous plant. D. ciliAta, 

 Benth. & Hook. (Jacobinia ciliata, Seem.). St. obscurely 4-angled, 2 

 ft.: Ivs. ovate-lanceolate, 2-3 in. long, short-stalked: fls. violet with 

 white palate, sessile, many in a short-peduncled fascicle; calyx 

 ciliate; corolla-tube %in. long, cylindrical; upper lip very small, 

 2-lobed, concave and recurved; lower lip very large and showy 

 (1 % in. across ), flat, with 3 large lobes. Costa Rica. Panama(?). 

 B.M. 5888 (as Beloperone ciliata, Hook. f.). Described as an 

 annual. Perhaps not of this genus. I H B 



DIANTHUS (Greek for Jove's flower). Caryophylla- 

 ceae. PINK. Small herbs, many of them prized for 

 their rich and showy flowers in the open garden ; and 

 one is the carnation. Some of them are deliciously 

 fragrant. 



Mostly perennials forming tufts and with grass- 

 like Ivs., and jointed sts. with terminal fls. and opposite 

 Ivs. From kindred genera Dianthus is distinguished 

 by the sepal-like bracts at the base of a cylindrical 

 calyx (Figs. 802, 803); petals without a crown; styles 

 2: caps, opening by 4 valves. Mostly temperate- 

 region plants, of S. Eu. and N. Afr., but occurring 

 elsewhere, one of them (a form of D. alpinus) being 

 native in N. Amer.; about 250 species are recognized. 

 The fls. are usually pink or red, but in garden forms 

 white and purple are frequent colors. Most of the cult, 

 species are hardy in the N. and are easy of cult. The 

 perennial species are excellent border plants. The chief 

 care required in their cult, is to see that the grass does 

 not run them out. Best results in flowering are secured 

 usually from 2-year-old seedling plants. The genus 

 abounds in attractive species, and other names than 

 those in this article may be expected to appear in the 

 catalogues. Numbers of species are likely to be grown 

 by rock-garden specialists. Pinks are among the old- 

 fashioned flowers, particularly D. plumarius, which was 

 formerly common in edgings and in circle-beds. The 

 sweet williams are always popular. All the species 

 described in this article are perennial, but there are a 

 few annuals in the genus but apparently not in cult. 

 Two weedy annual species, D. prolifer, Linn., and D. 

 Armeria, Linn., are naturalized in the eastern states, 

 and two or three others have run wild more or less. 

 See E. T. Cook, "Carnations, Picotees, and the Wild 

 and Garden Pinks," London, 1905. See p. 3568. 



Dianthuses like a warm soil, and one that will not 

 become too wet at any time, especially in winter, when 

 the perennial kinds are grown, as they are often killed 

 not so much from cold as from too much ice around them. 

 Snow is the best possible protection, but ice is the 

 reverse. All dianthuses are readily propagated from 

 seeds sown in rich soil (usually beginning to bloom the 

 second year), but the double kinds are reproduced 

 from cuttings alone to be sure to have them true, and in 

 the fall months cuttings are easily rooted if taken with 

 a "heel" or a part of the old stem adhering to the base 

 of the shoot; so that to make cuttings it is best to strip 

 them off rather than to make them with a knife. It 

 will be found, also, that cuttings made from plants 

 growing in the open ground do not root readily but 

 seem to dry up in the cutting-bench; if the plants to be 

 increased are carefully lifted and potted, placed in a 

 temperature of say 50 until young growth shows signs 

 of starting, every cutting taken off at this stage will 

 root easily. The transition from outdoors to the propa- 

 gating-house should not be too abrupt. Another method 

 of propagation is by layering, and with the garden pinks, 

 or forms of D. plumarius, it is the easiest and surest. 

 After hot weather is past, stir the soil round the parent 

 plant, take the branches that have a portion of bare 

 stem, make an incision half way through and along the 

 stem for an inch, and peg this down in the soil without 

 breaking off the shoot (Fig. 809). Roots will be formed 

 and good strong plants be the result before winter. 

 The layering method is specially suitable to such 

 species as D. plumarius, D. Caryophyllus and double 

 forms of others, such as sweet william. Among the 

 species are various pretty little alpine tufted sorts as 

 D. neglectus, D. glacialis and D. alpinus, all of which 

 are of dwarf close habit, not exceeding 3 inches high 

 and having very large single flowers of brightest colors. 

 These are suited only for rock-gardening, as on level 

 ground they often become smothered with weeds or 

 swamped with soil after a heavy rainstorm, and to 

 these two causes are attributable the failures to culti- 

 vate them. (E. O. Orpet.) 



