ITS NUMEROUS VARIETIES. 373 



corolla are lightened (as it were) into a linear " claw." The 

 stamens are double the number of the petals j the capsule is 

 of a cylindrical outline, and one-celled. 



I am quite prepared to agree with a sympathetic writer on 

 flowers that, during summer, and far into the autumn months, 

 the greatest beauty of our gardens is the varied tribe of Carna- 

 tions, while their exquisite, subtle, yet potent aroma is not to 

 be excelled, I think, or, at all events, is not far surpassed, in 

 strength and sweetness, by the much-lauded rose. A carnation 

 seems, to my humble taste, the very embodiment, as it were, 

 of the favourite qualities so insisted upon by Mr Matthew 

 Arnold, " sweetness and light." And even in winter, when its 

 radiant petals have disappeared, there is something graceful to 

 the eye in the long slender leaves of the pink, covered with 

 their sea-green powdery bloom. 



The two species commonly grown in gardens are, the garden 

 pink (Dianthus hortensis) and the carnation proper (Dianthus 

 caryophyllus) ; ioth of which are generally referred to one 

 original, the castle-pink, July-flower, or clove-gilliflower. The 

 carnation, as a garden flower, was originally brought into 

 England from Germany, where it has always been a favourite 

 object of cultivation. 



There are several hundred varieties of it, which are arranged 

 into three principal divisions : flakes, which are diversified by 

 broad stripes of two colours only ; Uzarres, which are of seve- 

 ral colours, and very irregularly streaked ; and picotees (from 

 piquette, spotted), whose flowers are besprinkled with different 

 colours, and their petals fringed or serrated. 



