name, which was, as far as possible, his general prac- 
tice. It is singular, that both he and Jussieu should 
have adopted it for their natural orders. 
The old herbalists, more generally, called these 
plants Gillyflowers, or Gilloflowers; which is, accord- 
ing to Parkinson, a corruption of July-Flower, and 
given from its blossoming season ; but Martyn says 
it is evidently derived from the French Giroflee or 
Giroflier,and quotes Chaucer’s spelling of it,Girofler, 
in support of his opinion. 
The varieties of this flower may have changed, 
conformably to a change in the standard of taste ; 
but whether materially improved, or greatly increas- 
ed, within the last two or three centuries, is not so 
easily ascertained. Gerard, who published in 1597, 
says, in allusion to the Carnation, “that a great and 
large volume would not suffice to write of every one 
at large in particular;” and Gerard’s ideas of a 
volume could not have been extremely contracted, 
when his own consisted of nearly fifteen hundred 
folio pages. Neither is our present variety of it so 
new as some of our friends may suppose, for the same 
trite author tells us that he had a “ Gilloflower with 
yellow flowers; the which a worshipfull marchant 
of London, Master Nicholas Leete, procured from 
Poland, and gave me thereof for my garden, which 
before that time was never seene nor heard of in 
these countries.” 
Of the cultivation of this species we shall, at a 
future period, treat at length. The present variety, 
though frequently occupying a place in the conser- 
vatory, is even more hardy than the sorts in common 
cultivation amongst florists. 
Hort. Kcw. 2, v. 3, 79. 
