CARNATIONS AND PINKS 
CHAPTER I 
HISTORICAL NOTES 
By JAMES DOUGLAS, V.M.H. 
THE Carnations at present in cultivation in British gardens 
have arisen from the wild species of Dianthus known as 
Dianthus Caryophyllus. This species is not believed to be 
indigenous to Great Britain, but it has been naturalised 
here for many centuries. It is not known when the plant 
was introduced to these shores; some think that it may 
have been introduced by the Romans, but it is much more 
likely that its introduction occurred at a later date, and that 
it came here from Normandy. In any case, Dianthus Caryo- 
phyllus is the parent of all the brilliant, self-coloured Car- 
nations, the varied and richly tinted fancies, the beautiful 
yellow and white ground Picotees, and the Flakes and 
Bizarres that were loved so much by the florists of the 
nineteenth century. When or where the first development 
into the semi-double or double form occurred, there is no 
information. We know from Turner’s Herbal, published in 
1550, that the Carnation had taken its place as a garden 
flower previous to that date, for Turner states that the flowers 
“are made pleasant and sweet by the wits of man and not 
by Nature.” This is but a half-truth, for Nature had certainly 
A 
