DIANTHUS CARYOPHYLLUS.— THE CARNATION, OR CLOVE PINK. 
Class X. DECANDRIA.— Order II. DIGYNIA. 
Natural Order, CARYOPHYLLEAL. — THE CHICK-WEED TRIBE. 
We are indebted to Mr. Don for the following account of the Carnation: — Stem branched; flowers solitary ; 
calycine scales 4, very short, ovate, rather mucronate; petals very broad, beardless ; leaves linear-awl- 
shaped, channelled, glaucous. %. y. Native of the south of France; in England on old ruinous walls, 
particularly on Rochester, Deal, Sandown, and other old castles, plentifully on walls in Norwich, and other 
old towns. Flowers from single to double, white, yellow, purple, and variegated, indeed of all colours, 
blue excepted. 
Var. /3, flore plena ; flowers double, called Carnation, Sims’ Bot. Mag. t. 89. 
The flowers of the Clove are very variable in size and colour, the double varieties of which are called 
Carnations, and the smaller flower of the latter are called Picotees. 
D. caryophyllus is considered the source whence have sprung the numerous varieties of the Carnation 
and the Picotee. The Carnation seems to have been unknown to the ancients, at least in its cultivated 
state, not being mentioned by Pliny, or sung by any of the Roman poets. It has, however, been cultivated 
from time immemorial in Europe, and is in the highest favour for its beauty and rich spicy odour. It is 
the principal florist’s flower in Germany and Italy, from which countries the British florists procure their 
best Carnation seed, and also some esteemed varieties. The varieties amounted nearly to 400 named sorts 
in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and the number has not since diminished. They are arranged 
in three classes, flakes, bizarres and picotees. Flakes have two colours only, and their stripes large, going 
quite through the leaves of the flower. Bizarres, (Fr. odd, irregular,) are variegated in irregular spots and 
stripes, and with no less than three colours. Scarlet, Purple, and Pink, are the three colours most pre- 
dominant in Carnation, the two first are seldom to be met with in the same flower, but the two last are very 
frequently. New varieties are procured from seeds, and thousands of seedlings are annually blown by 
florists and amateurs, sometimes without one being found worth keeping. Established or approved varieties 
are continued by layering or cuttings, or as they are commonly called pipings. The soil in which the Car- 
nation thrives best is a rich loam rather sandy than otherwise; the climate should be free from extremes of 
every kind, for which reason they are commonly grown in pots, and protected by a frame during winter, 
and covered by an awning while in bloom. Carnations grow exceedingly well in beds of properly prepared 
soil, over which frames are placed in winter, and an awning of canvas or bunting when the plants are in 
blossom. 
I remember a naturalist says, “The principal flower in a bouquet was a carnation, the fragrance of 
which led me to enjoy it frequently and near, while the ear was constantly assailed by an extremely soft 
but agreeable murmuring sound. I instantly distended the lower part of the flower, and, placing it in a 
full light, could discover, by a glass, troops of little insects frisking and capering with wild jollity among the 
narrow pedestals that supported its leaves, and the little threads that occupied its centre. What a fragrant 
world for their habitation ! What a perfect security from all annoyance in the deep husk that surrounded 
their scene of action ! 
The microscope, on this occasion, had given what nature seemed to have denied to the objects contem- 
plated. The base of the flower extended itself to a vast plain, the slender stems of the leaves became trunks 
of so many stately cedars, the threads in the middle seemed columns of massy structure, supporting at the top 
their several ornaments ; and the narrow spaces between were enlarged into walks, parterres, and terraces. 
On the polished bottom of these, brighter than Parian marble, walked alone, in pairs, or in large com- 
panies, the winged inhabitants, stained with living purple, and with a glossy gold that would have made all 
the labours of the loom contemptible in the comparison. There were the perfumed groves, the more than 
myrtle shades of the poet’s fancy ; here the happy creatures spent their days in sportive gaiety ; or, in the 
triumph of their little hearts, skipped after one another from stem to stem among the trees, or winged their 
flight to the close shadow of some broader leaf, to revel undisturbed in the heights of felicity. 
The Carnations, Maiden-pinks, &c. have been celebrated both for their beauty and fragrance ; in the 
latter they are equalled by few plants, exceeded perhaps by none. As the rose for her beauty, the nightin- 
gale for his song, so is the pink noted for its sweetness. 
“ And the pink of smell divinest,” 
is seldom or never forgotten when the poets would celebrate the charms of Flora ; 
