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A DICTIONARY OF 
Gilliflower. ‘ Formerly spelt gyllofer and gilofre, with the o long ; 
from Fr. girojlee; It. garofalo ; in Douglas’s Virgil, gerejiouris ; words 
formed from the Lat. garoffolum, gariofilum, or, as in Albert Magn. 
(1. vi. c. 22), gariofilus, corrupted from L. caryophyllum, a clove, Gr. 
Kapvo(pvXXov, and referring to the spicy odour of the flower, which 
seems to have been used in flavouring wines to replace the more 
costly clove of India. The name was originally given in Italy to 
plants of the Pink tribe, especially the carnation, but has in England 
been transferred of late years to several cruciferous plants. That of 
Chaucer and Spenser and Shakespeare was, as in Italy, Diantlius 
Caryopliyllus, L. ; that of later writers and gardeners MaWiiola and 
Cheiranthus, L.’ — Prior, p. 90. In the older writers, D. Caryopliyllus 
was, as Dr. Prior has shown, the gilliflower par excellence ; the name 
was, indeed, shared by many other plants, but always with a dis- 
tinctive preface. Some later authors, however, as Martyn in his 
edition of the Gardener’s Dictionary, seem incorrectly to consider 
Matthiola incana as the true gilliflower. It would seem that it was 
more especially the smaller varieties of D. Caryopliyllus to which the 
name was originally assigned : Parkinson (Parad. p. 306) says : ‘ I 
account those that are called Carnations to be the greatest both for 
leafe and flower, and Oillofloiuers for the most part to bee lesser in 
both.’ Shakspeare also distinguishes between the two : 
‘ The fairest flowers of the season. 
Are our carnations and streaked gilliflowers.’ 
Winter’s Tale, Act iv. sc. 3. 
Parkinson says (p. 314) that the name ‘is taken from cloves, in that 
the sent of the ordinary red gilloflower especially doth resemble them.’ 
The name gillifloiuer is spelt in a great variety of ways : ‘ Chaucer 
writes it Gylofre; Turner Oelover and Gelyfloure [and Gelofer'] ; Gerard 
and Parkinson Gilloflower .^ — Mart. Mill. Hal. quotes the spelling 
Gelowe-floure from Palsgrave; and Qillofer is another common old 
spelling. 
(1) Diantlius Caryopliyllus, L. — See above. 
(2) Cheiranthus Cheiri, L. — This is the plant nowadays usually so 
called. Line. Brogd., E. D. S. Gloss. C. 6; Notts., Warw., JVorc. In 
an abbreviated form (Gilliver) the name is similarly applied in dies.. 
Lane., Leic., Nhamp. (Nth. Gloss.), Notts., and Sal.; and, still further 
shortened to Gilly, in Bucks, and Oxf. 
(3) Matthiola incana, Br. — Glou., Sal. (Gillofer), Som. (Gilawfer). 
Gilliflower, Castle. Matthiola incana, Br. — Lyte. 
Gilliflower, Clove. See Clove Gilliflower. 
Gilliflower, Cuckoo. LycJinis Flos-cuculi, L. — Lyte. Prior, p. 50. 
From its resemblance to a gilliflower and its flowering in spring. 
Gilliflower, Dame’s. Hesperis matronalis, L. — Lyte. See Dame’s 
Violet, and Prior, p. 62. 
Gilliflower, Feathered. See Feathered Gillofers. 
Gilliflower, Marsh (or by error March). Lajehnis Flos-cuculi, L. — 
Ljdie. From its growth in wet land. Prior, p. 91. 
