66 Caryophyllece Dianthus* 



beautiful varieties now cultivated in our gardens began to 

 arrive from Germany and Russia. Since then they have been 

 considerably increased, and we might now enumerate upwards 

 of a hundred, both double and single, and comprehending 

 every shade aiad combination of colour from white and pink to 

 dark purple. 



4. D. Hispdnicus. Spanish Pink. A charming variety of 

 the Sweet William. It has rather broad leav.es, erect stems, 

 and dense inflorescence ; but its flowers are at least three times 

 the size of the common varieties. Their normal tint is a lilac 

 carmine, with a circle of dots of a deeper colour around the 

 centre- This colouring is greatly modified under cultivation, 

 and varieties are now known some quite white, others rose or 

 carmine, and others again marbled with pink or carmine upon 

 a white ground. And it is not an unusual occurrence to meet 

 with all these varieties of colouring in the same individual ; 

 hence, doubtless, its French name of (Eillet badin, or Sportive 

 Pink. Only the semi-double and double varieties are gene- 

 rally seen in gardens, and even they are not very widely spread 

 at the present time, though they have long been in favour. 



In the French edition this 

 is given as a distinct spe- 

 cies ; but the true D. His- 

 pdnicus is a totally diffe- 

 rent plant, belonging to 

 another section of the genus. 

 5, D. Chinensis (fig. 45). 

 Chinese Pink, or Indian 

 Pink. Brought from China 

 early in the eighteenth cen- 

 tury by a French missionary 

 named Bignon, it soon be- 

 came as popular as the other 

 species of this genus. It is 

 distinguished by its narrower 

 more acute glaucous leaves 

 and its incomparably larger 

 flowers, which in some va- 

 rieties are truly enormous. 



Fig. 45. DianthusCMnensis. (J nat. size.) 



species, has been remarkably improved under culture, and has 

 given birth to a multitude of both single and double varieties, 

 self-coloured or streaked, white, pink, crimson, carmine, purple- 



