CARYOPHYLLACE^-PINK FAMILY 



SWEET WILLIAM. BUNCH PIHK 



Didnthus harbiUus. 



One of the oldest garden flowers. Its range extends from China to 

 Russia and southward as far as the Pyrenees. Perennial. Summer. 



Stems.— TviittA, glabrous, erect, swollen at the joints, ten to eighteen 

 inches high. 



Leaves. — Lanceolate or ovate, opposite. 



Flowers.— Bomt at the top of the stem in a flat, dense cyme; varying 

 in color through all the reds to white. 



Calyx. — Tubular, five-toothed, with several awl-shaped bracts at 

 base. 



Petals. — Five; claw long and slender; border spreading, notched 

 and toothed. 



Stamens. — ^Ten, exserted, maturing before the stigma. 



Ovary. — Oblong, one-celled, stipulate; styles two. 



Capsule. — Cylindrical, opening by four or five short teeth at the 

 summit; seeds compressed. 



Sweet Williams are worthy the respect of the Greatest Ladies who are 

 Lovers of Flowers. — Old English Herbal. 



Sweet William is a name of Dianthus barhatus used by the 

 earliest English writers on gardens; furthermore, they tell us that 

 the narrow-leaved varieties of the species were called Sweet 

 Johns and the broad ones Sweet Williams, but who the honored 

 John and William may be, not one of them- deigns to tell; possibly 

 they did not know, certainly we do not. 



Gerard, in 1586, says that he can find no explanation for either 

 name, and utterly repudiates the existence of any St. William 



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