156 
. DIANTHUS CARYOPHYLLUS. 
country ; according to Ray and Hudson, it was formerly very com- 
mon in the neighbourhood of Rochester, Sandown, Deal, &c. and 
is now occasionally met with in the crevices of rocks and old 
walls. 
The clove pink now forms an ornament in almost every garden, 
being generally admired both for its colour and fragrance; by the 
aid of cultivation, many beautiful and double varieties are pro- 
duced, the most luxuriant of which are known by the name of 
carnations. The specific name, Caryophyllus, given to this species 
of Diantlius, appears to be derived from its odour, which greatly 
resembles that of the clove spice. The root is perennial ; the stems 
are slender, upright, smooth, branched and jointed, of a glaucous 
green colour, and rise from one to two feet in height ; the leaves of 
the young shoots are numerous, smooth, linear, entire and pointed ; 
those on the stems are short, linear, and placed in pairs at the 
joints ; the flowers stand singly at the extremities of the branches, 
and are of a deep crimson colour; the calyx is cylindrical, tubular, 
and five-cleft; the base is surrounded with four ovate, pointed 
squamx ; the corolla is composed of five petals, the limbs of which 
are rounded, scolloped, and fringed ; the claws iare long, narrow, and 
attached to the common receptacle; the ten filaments are longer 
than the calyx, tapering, and furnished with oblong compressed 
anthers; the germen is oval, the two styles slender and longer than 
the filaments, and crowned with pointed stigmas, which curl out- 
ward ; the capsule is cylindrical, and contains many roundish seeds. 
Sensible Qualities, Properties, and Uses, &c. The 
flowers of the clove pink have an agreeable aromatic smell, resembling 
the clove spice; their taste is bitter and slightly astringent; they 
impart these quaUties both to water and spirit, and either by infu- 
sion or distillation. The medicinal properties of the flowers (the 
only part used in pharmacy) are very inconsiderable ; former writers 
on the Materia Medica supposed them to possess power over the 
nervous system, and therefore recommended them in many nervous 
diseases, in palpitations of the heart, convulsions, tremours, &c. 
Modern practice however does not confirm the encomiums bestowed 
upon them, and the flowers are now valued only for their sen- 
sible qualities ; the ofiicinal preparation is esteemed as an useful 
adjunct only; as such it is used to disguise the taste of unpala- 
table medicines, and to give a fine colour where it is wanting. 
Off. The Flowers. 
Off. Pp. Syrupus CaryophylU Rubri, D. 
