CARNATION CO NFE R E N C E . 



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Pink), the probable origin of the Early Red Pinks and the 

 Pheasant's- eye Pinks ; D. plumarius (the Common Pink), the 

 origin of the White Double Pinks with deep-cut petals ; D. 

 .sinensis (the Indian, or rather the China Pink) ; and last, and 

 not least, D. Caryophyllus, the origin of the Clove Pink or 

 Carnation, and its various forms, the Flakes, Bizarres, and 

 Picotees. 



The Pink was entirely unknown to the Greeks. According 

 to Pliny it was known to the Romans as early as the reign of 

 Augustus Caesar, when it was discovered in that part of Spain 

 which is now called the province of Biscay, at that time in- 

 habited by the Cantabri. These people were subdued by 

 Augustus in B.C. 19, and the plant was conveyed to Rome, where 

 it was called " Cantabrica," after the name of the country 

 whence it was procured. Turner, in his " Herball " of 1568 

 speaks of it as " Cantabrica Gelover," and from him we learn 

 that it was then cultivated in our gardens, since he says : " The 

 Gelovers are made so pleasant and swete with the labours and 

 witt of man, and not by nature." Caryophyllus was the 

 pseudo-generic term used for many of the species described by the 

 pre-Linnean botanists, such as Ruellius, Dodoens, TabernaBmon- 

 tanus, Jean Bauhin, Grisley, Cupani, Tournefort, and Seguier. 

 The derivation of the Linnean name for the genus — Dianthus — 

 is from dios anthos, the divine flower, in allusion to the beauty 

 and fragrance of some of the species. Another derivation, which 

 is not generally accepted, is di anthos, a double flower. Haller * 

 revived the pre-Linnean name of Tunica for the species, which 

 as a morphological expression is preferable to Dianthus, referring 

 as it does to the form of the calyx. This name, however, was 

 ignored by Linnaeus in his " Species Plantarum," the first edition 

 of which was published in 1753, and in which many of the 

 Linnean species are described. Adanson, however, retained 

 Haller's name for the species. The English name of Pink has been 

 long in use. Gerard, in 1597, speaks of " a wild creeping pink 

 which groweth in our pastures neere about London." The word 

 " pink " as the name of a colour is derived from the plant, and in its 



* Dillenius and Haller used "Tunica" as a general name for all the 

 Pinks, but Linnaeus did not perpetuate either this or Caryophyllus or Armeria 

 when he established the binomial system of nomenclature on its present 

 basis. — Ed. 



