202 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 



Stock, Wallflower, and Carnation were alike called Gilloflowers. 

 But there were distinctions between the members of this lovely, 

 fragrant trinity. The first was the Stock-gilloflower, the second 

 the Wall-gilloflower, the third the Gilloflower. The Carnation, 

 then, was the Queen of the old Gilloflowers. Gillyflower, Gillo- 

 flower, or Gilliflower (all three spellings appear) is held to be a 

 corruption of Caryophyllum, the clove. 



When Chaucer writes of the "clow gilofre" he certainly means 

 the clove gilloflower the Carnation. The lines following his 

 allusion to it 



"And notemuge to put in ale 

 Whether it be moist or stale," 



point to its admitted use in the olden days as a spice. 



Whence, however, the derivation of the name "Carnation," 

 and whence that of "clove"? The answers to these questions are 

 full of interest, because the two names are shown to react on 

 each other in a remarkable, and yet simple, way, arising directly 

 out of the perfume of the flower. The old writers used the 

 term Clove Gilloflower because the bloom had the odour of the 

 commercial clove that spice, early childhood memories of which 

 are chequered by the recollection of its use, not only in various 

 agreeable dishes, but also as a supposed remedy for toothache. 

 The clove is the dried flower-bud of the Myrtaceous shrub 

 Caryophyllus aromaticus, from the Latin caryophyllum, a clove. 

 Now, according to some authorities, the word " carnation " is 

 neither more nor less than a corruption of caryophyllum. Another 

 derivation is suggested, however. The ancient Greeks and Romans 

 used the flower for making chaplets, and hence it was called the 

 "coronation flower." The corruption of "coronation" to "car- 

 nation" is more obvious than the change from caryophyllum to 

 Carnation, although the latter is by no means impossible. Some 

 writers contend that instead of "carnation" being a corruption of 

 "coronation," the reverse holds good that "carnation" was used 



