LXV— THE CHEDDAR PINK. 
Diant hus glaucus Hudson. 
A T the summit of the Caryophyllace<e in organisation and in beauty is the genus 
Dianthus. 
The Tribe Dianlhe<e , which comprises this genus and Gypsophila, is characterised 
by the absence of commissural veins in the gamosepalous calyx ; by the attachment 
of their round and flattened, or peltate , seeds by a central funicle ; and by the 
straightness of the embryo. The genus Dianthus itself is variously estimated as 
having seventy or two hundred and thirty species, mostly tufted, wiry, perennial, 
alpine, or rupestral herbs, with grass-like, and often glaucous, leaves ; conspicuous 
pink flowers, with two or more imbricate, opposite bracts immediately below the 
tubular calyx, long-clawed petals, very protandrous stamens, and two styles ; and a 
four-toothed, many-seeded capsule. 
As the leathery glaucous leaves, with but few stomata equally dispersed over 
their two similar ascending surfaces, suggest, they are essentially xerophilous plants, 
inhabiting sunny situations in North-west America, South Africa, and, more 
especially, the Mediterranean area of the Old World ; while their tufted habit and 
large or conspicuous, protandrous flowers point to alpine stations and pollination by 
butterflies. In a truly wild state most of the species are rupestral, insinuating their 
roots into the slightest crevices of the bare rock, or spreading themselves out in the 
sun amongst the loose stones of the moraine of the departed glacier. In the haunts 
of man they have often betaken themselves to the ledges of the stonework of castle 
or abbey ; and their many minute seeds, shaken economically a few at a time from 
the open top of the capsule, have spread them afar. In this way several species that 
have no real claim to be considered indigenous to Britain have established them- 
selves. Among these are Dianthus plumarius Linne, the parent type of our garden 
Pinks, and D. Caryophyllus Linn6, the Clove Pink or Carnation. As wild tracts of 
land are constantly being conquered by the plough, almost every species of the genus, 
four of which are truly indigenous, is becoming rarer than it was. The deep rose 
stars of the Deptford Pink ( D . Armenia Linn6), dotted with white, are less frequent 
in hedgerows and thickets ; and the larger blossoms of such solitary-flowered 
species as the Maiden Pink (D. deltoides Linne) unfortunately tempt their transfer 
from their hilly home pastures to the garden. 
Restricted as is its present distribution in our island, there is no reason to 
doubt the indigenous character of the Cheddar Pink ( D . glaucus Hudson). Its 
continental distributional area accords well with its being truly wild in southern 
England. From Lombardy, Hungary, Switzerland, and Southern France, where 
from the limestone hills of Grenoble it got the name D. gratianopolitanus of Villars, it 
extends to the Belgian Ardennes. The plant recorded in Dillenius’s edition of 
Ray’s “Synopsis” (1724) as found by Du-Bois in the north of England was 
