4GG JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



original sense, as used by Shakspeare, means " an eye," or rather 

 " a small eye." In Dutch joinken, or pinkooqen, is to twinkle with 

 the eye, and in provincial German pinkem is to wink. The 

 French name of aillct (diminutive of ceil) also illustrates its 

 etymology. 



The geographical range of the genus Dianthus is considerable. 

 It is a genus quite characteristic of temperate and sub-temperate 

 climates. It has its headquarters in Europe and Western Asia. 

 There are several species at the Cape ; a few are Himalayan, 

 Chinese, and Japanese ; none reach Australia, New Zealand, 

 or the Andes ; and only one, a Siberian species, just touches the 

 extreme north-western tip of the American continent. The 

 genus is distributed throughout Europe, with the exception of 

 Ireland and Iceland, more especially in the southern and central 

 parts of the continent. The species most frequently occur on 

 dry pastures in elevated localities with a calcareous soil, on 

 mountain limestone and chalk cliffs, and meadows on the slopes 

 of mountains exposed to the sun ; never in marshy districts or 

 in localities with a humid climate. For instance, the Carthusian 

 Pink ascends to 1,000 or 1,500 metres on elevated plateaux, or 

 until it finds a dry soil ; below this elevation the mists are un- 

 favourable to its growth. 



I now come to the Sweet-william. The origin of this plant 

 is D. barbatus, a species indigenous in France, Kussia, the 

 south of Europe, and Western Asia, and growing in dry fields and 

 alpine pastures. What it wants in fragrance it supplies by 

 masses of variegated blossoms in large and compact heads. It is 

 mentioned by Dodoens in his " Kruydeboeck " (published in 1554) 

 under the name of " Keykens," which means a nosegay or 

 bunch of flowers. Turner does not mention the plant in his 

 work of 1568, but Gerard mentions it as a common flower in the 

 gardens of that period, commonly called " London Tuftes." This 

 old herbalist is the first to call them Sweet-williams, and he 

 also notices many varieties both with double and single flowers. 

 He says : "We have in our London gardens a kind hereof, bearing 

 most fine and pleasant white flowers, spotted very confusedly 

 with reddish spots, which setteth forth the beauty thereof, and 

 hath been taken of some to be the plant called of the later writers 

 Superba austriaca, or the Pride of Austria." The specific name 

 of barbatus is either on account of the barbed appearance of the 



