THE PINK FAMILY 
[ORDER XII. CARYOPHYLLEAS] 
S OME of the marked characteristics of the Pink family lie in the leaves and stems. The 
leaves are entire and opposite, and the stem is jointed and swollen by each pair of leaves. 
The flowers have the same number of sepals and petals, 5 or 4, and the same or double the 
number of stamens, and the fruit is a i-celled, many-seeded capsule, opening at the top by valves. 
It is a large family, widely spread, though rare in the tropics. Common in the Northern 
Hemisphere, and even found in the Arctic regions and high up on the Alps. 
The Pinks, Piccotees, Carnations, Sweet Williams, Campions, and Gypsophylla are species 
commonly cultivated, and are attractive by reason of their beauty and sweet scent. 
PINK. (DIANTHUS, LINN.) — Flowers very noticeable, pink or purple, solitary or in loose 
clusters (cymes), each flower surrounded by 2-5 small bracts inserted directly under, and partially 
covering, the sepals. Sepals 5, united at the base into a tube and separating into 5 teeth ; 
petals 5, spreading, with a toothed or jagged edge, thinning into a long claw; stamens 10; 
carpels 2, united into a seedcase and separating into 2 styles on the inner surface of which are the 
stigmas. Fruit an oblong, 1 -celled, many-seeded capsule, opening at the top by 4 teeth. Herbs 
with opposite, entire, very narrow leaves, with a bluish bloom (glaucous), and stems with swollen 
joints (nodes). 
Deptford Pink. (Dianthus Armeria, Linn.) — Flowers small, f inch across, scentless, 
rose-coloured with white dots and with very long claws, in small, compact terminal clusters, with 
2 downy, long pointed bracts, as long as or longer than the sepals, surrounding each flower. 
[As just described above.] Stems 1-2 feet high, downy, swollen at the joints (nodes) ; the 
leaves 1J-2 inches long, opposite, narrow, downy, the upper pointed and the lower blunt. 
Rare. Dry banks and fields in the south and east of England. July — August. Annual or biennial. 
Maiden Pink. (Dianthus deltoides, Linn.) — Flowers f inch across, rose-pink with 
white spots and a crimson band across the centre, scentless, solitary, or 2-3 together, with 
2 bracts half as long as the sepals. [As just described in the genus Pink (Dianthus).] Stems 
6 inches to 1 foot high, much branched, swollen at the joints (nodes). Leaves opposite, narrow 
and downy, blunt, the upper ones becoming more pointed. [Plate 21. 
Rare. Gravelly pastures, banks, sandy links. June — September. Perennial. 
Cheddar Pink. (Dianthus caesius, Sm.)— A similar species to the last, with the flowers 
i inch across, rose-coloured, sweet-scented, the petals slightly toothed, solitary, surrounded by 
4 broad, shortly-pointed bracts which are £ as long as the sepals; the stems 4-10 inches high ; 
the leaves tufted and crowded at the base, seldom more than 1 inch long, narrow and blunt 
on the lower and more pointed on the upper stalks, and covered with a bluish bloom. 
Very rare. Limestone rocks at Cheddar in Somerset. June — July. Perennial. 
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