B I A N 
With us it is fare, in fandy paftures, and has been ob- 
ferved only at Selfey-ifland in Sufl'ex, near Norwich, on 
Landridge-hill, and at Hanley-caftle, in Worcefterfhire ; 
between Hanipton-court and Teddington. It flowers in 
July and Auguft; and is known by the name of childing 
iweet-william, or childing pink. 
II. Flowers folitary, feveral on the fame ftem. 8. Di- 
anthus diminutus, the fmall pink : calycine fcales eight, 
longer than the flower. It is doubtful whether this be 
a diftinCt fpecies: Haller thinks it is not. Leers fays it is 
hardly different; and Linnaeus affirms it to be the daugh¬ 
ter of the childing pink, and of courfe very nearly allied 
to it. It is a very diminutive plant, feldom riling fix 
inches high, terminated by a Angle flower, of a pale red 
colour; their leaves are fhort and narrow, and grow in 
clofe heads. Native of Germany and Swifferland. 
9. Dianthus* caryophyllus,- the clove pink : calycine 
fcales fubrhombed, very ffiort; petals crenate, beardlefs. 
This fpecies, fo well known in its improved ftate in gar¬ 
dens, is thus deferibed in its natural ftate by Haller : 
Root large, woody, branched. Stem a foot or eighteen 
inches high, decumbent at the bottom, jointed, branched. 
Leaves glaucous, fmooth, linear, a line in breadth ; every 
branch is terminated by one, two, or three, flowers. The 
calycine fcales are ffiort, broad, and awned; but fome- 
times they are wholly wanting. The petals have long 
claws, the lamina or border reprefents the feCtor of a 
circle, and is finely ferrated about the edge ; it is not la- 
nuginous at the bafe : the claw is green, the border is 
rofe-coloured. This flower has a pleafant fmell, but 
no.t the fpicy odour of the garden plant. Seguier lays 
that it is without fmell. Scopoli adds, that the ftem is 
angular, and that the leaves, when viewed through a 
magnifying glafs, appear finely toothed. It grows on 
rocks and walls, and in dry foils. This fine flower, which 
has long been dclervedly efteemed, both for its fuperior 
beauty and rich fpicy odour, mull have been unknown 
to the ancients, in its cultivated improvement ; other- 
wife it muff: have been deferibed by the naturalifts, and 
fung by the poets, as well as its rival the rofe. Carna¬ 
tions and pinks have, however, been cultivated time im¬ 
memorial in Europe, and were among the few favourite 
flowers of our remote anceftors. 
The carnation is a variety of this. Parkinfon, in his 
Paradifus, publilhed in 1629, has given a very full ac¬ 
count, with figures, of the carnations then in cultivation. 
He divides them into carnations , or the greateft forts in 
leaf and flower, and gillofowers, or fuch as are fmaller 
in both refpeCts. The orange-tawny, or yellow gillo- 
flower, now little efteemed, had then been lately intro¬ 
duced. Gerarde (1597) informs us, “ that a worfhipful 
merchant of London, Matter Nicholas Lete, procured it 
from Poland, and gave him thereof for his garden, which 
before that time was never feen nor heard of in thefe 
countries.” 
Of carnations, the diligent Parkinfon recites nineteen, 
and of gilloflowers, thirty varieties. Though thefe have 
been fupplanted by modern flowers, and the florifts are 
daily producing new ones, yet it may not be unacceptable 
to the curious, to recite the names of a few which were 
in favour alrnoft two centuries ago.— Carnations. Grey, 
red, and blue, hulo ; grimelo, or prince ; French ; grand, 
or great Harwich, or old Englilh ; ftriped favadge; blufh, 
and red favadge ; Oxford ; king’s, or ordinary Briftow ; 
great Lombard red.— Gilloflowers. I,ufty gallant, or Well, 
minfter; Briftol blue ; Briftol blufh ; red Dover; light, 
or white Dover ; fair maid of Kent, or ruffling Robin ; 
Bradfhaw’s dainty lady ; John Wittie his great tawny ; 
divers other tawnies ; many forts of blufhes ; fome va¬ 
rieties of reds ; Mafter Tuggie’s princefs; Mafter Tuggie 
his rofe gilloflower. This Mafter Tuggie was the nioft 
famous man of his time for the cultivation of thefe fine 
flowers : and accordingly Johnfon, after referring to the 
work of his friend Mr. John Parkinfon, adds, “ if they 
require further fatisfaCtion, let them at the time of the 
Vol. V. No. 315. 
THUS. 793 
year repair to the garden of Miftrefs Tuggy, the wife of 
my late deceafed friend Mr. Ralph Tuggy, in Weftminf- 
ter, which in the excellency and variety of thefe delights 
exceedeth all that I have feen.” The old name gillofower, 
was fuppofed by Parkinfon to be corrupted from July, 
fiojoer, and Ray has adopted the notion, but it is erro¬ 
neous ; for it is evidently derived from the French girofe'e 
or girofier, and accordingly Chaucer writes it girojler. 
Modern florifts diftinguifh the carnation into four 
claffes. 'F'nii, fakes, of two colours only, and their ftripes 
large, going quite through the leaves. One of thefe, 
the rofe-leaved flake, is figured by Miller, t. 121. Se¬ 
cond, bizarrs, with flowers ftriped or variegated with 
three or four different colours, in irregular fpots and 
ftripes. See Curtis’s Magazine, t. 39. Third, piquettes 
or piquettees , having a white ground, and fpotted or pounc¬ 
ed with fcarlet, red, purple, or other colours. Fourth, 
painted ladies ; thefe have the petals of a red or purple 
colour on the upper fide, 3 nd are white underneath. 
The following are what, the florifts call the good 
properties of a carnation, x. The ftem of the flower 
Ihould be ftrong, and able to fupport the weight of the 
flower without hanging down. 2. The petals fltould be 
long, broad, and ftift', and pretty eafy to expand ; or, as 
the florifts term it, Ihould make free flowers. 3. The 
middle of the flower fltould not advance too high above 
the other parts. 4. The colours fltould be bright, and 
equally marked all over the flower. 5. The flower 
fhould be very full of petals, fo as to render it, when 
blown, very thick in the middle, and the outfide per¬ 
fectly round. To this we may add, that the ftem fhould 
not only be ftrong, but ftraight, and not lefs than thirty, 
or more than forty-five, inches high. The flower fltould 
be at leaf! three incites in diameter, and the petals well 
formed, neither fo many as to appear crowded, nor fo few 
as to appear thin. The lower or outer circle of petals, 
commonly called the guard leaves, fltould be particularly 
fiibftantial; they fhould rife perpendicularly about half 
an inch above the calyx, and then turnoff gracefully in a 
horizontal direction, fupporting the interior petals, which, 
fltould decreafe gradually in lize 'as they approach the 
centre, which Ihould be well filled with them. All the 
petals fhould be regularly difpofed, and lie over each 
other in fuch a manner as that their refpe&ive and united 
beauties may meet the eye all together; they fhould be 
nearly flat, or at moft have a fmall degree of inflection at 
the broad end : their edges Ihould be perfectly entire, 
without notch, fringe, or indenture. The calyx Ihould 
be at leaft an inch in length, fufticiently ftrong at top to 
keep the bafes of the petals in a clofe and circular body. 
The colours fhould be diftinCt, and the ftripes regular, 
narrowing gradually to the claw of the petal, and there 
ending in a fine point. Alrnoft one half of each petal 
fhould be of a clear white, free from fpots. 
Pinks do not feem to have attracted any great notice 
among our anceftors. Parkinfon has given very few va¬ 
rieties : as white, red, purple, Granado, matted, and blufh, 
both Angle and double. Rea fays, that there are many 
forts but of little efteem, ferving only for the lides of 
borders in fpacious gardens, and fome of them for polies, 
mixed with the buds of the damafk rofe ; and that the 
belt are the feathered pinks. It is only within the laft 
century, and particularly of late years, that pinks have 
beenmuch improved and varied, fo as to be greatly valued 
among florifts. 
The principal varieties are the damafk, white fhock, 
pheafant eye, common red, Cob’s, Dobfon’s, white Cob, 
and Bat’s. The old man’s head, and painted-lady, pinks, 
rather belong to the carnation. The damafk pink is the 
firft of the double forts in flower. This has but a fhort 
ftalk ; the flower is not very large, and not fo double as 
many others; the colour is of a pale purple, inclining to 
red, but it is very fweet. The next which flowers is the 
white lhock, which was called from the whitenefs of its 
flowers, and the borders of the petals being much jagged 
9 and 
