THE INDIAN PINK. 



Dianthns Chinensis. 



ARIABILITY is a common cha- 

 racteristic of garden flowers, and 

 is the quality on which depends 

 very much of the interest they 

 excite in the mind of the florist. 

 A flower that continues constant 

 to its typical character, or but 

 rarely manifests a capability of 

 varying-, will never attain to high 

 popularity, no matter how splen- 

 did may be its appearance when 

 in full dress. The Indian pink 

 possesses the charming property 

 of changeableness in an especial 

 degree, and the consequence is 

 that our gardens abound with distinct and rich varie- 

 ties that in some instances are so far removed from the 

 type that the relationship can only be determined by 

 the trained eye of the critical botanist. The splendid 

 forms known as Dianthus Heddewegi, D. giganteus, and 

 D. laciniatus are all sub-sections, or " strains/' of D. 

 Chinensis, and it is not unlikely that if they were at this 

 moment destroyed, they could be reproduced from the 

 species within the lifetime of an earnest florist who should 



