T HE Pink is another of those beautiful blossoms made use 
of by florigraphists to indicate the grand passion, it being 
typical of pure love. Florists have two principal divisions of 
these lovely flowers—pinks and carnations. The latter is much 
larger and fuller leaved, but not more fragrant, than its little 
sister. The high rank which this extensive genus held in the 
estimation of the Greeks and Romans may be learned from its 
nomenclature. By the former people it was called the “ divine 
flower ” (dianthus), the name it still retains ; to the latter race 
it was known as Flos Jovis , or “Jove’s Flower;” that title, 
according to some, being bestowed on it for its remarkable 
beauty; but awarded to it, others say, for its super-eminent 
fragrance. 
The Bearded Pink is better known as the Sweet William, 
under which well-known designation it will be found in this 
volume. Of one type of this odoriferous group, the Clove 
Pink, the varieties are endless ; all exhale the most exquisite of 
scents. Whilst the larger kinds are those known as carnations, 
the smaller are termed “ gillyflowers,” which is a floral name 
more frequently sung of by our ancient poets, from dear old 
Chaucer downwards, than any other. This cognomen is 
supposed to be a corruption of “July flower but that deriva¬ 
tion has been much questioned of late. Michael Drayton 
calls it 
“The curious choice dove July flower, 
Whose kinds, hight the carnation, 
For sweetness of most sovereign power 
Shall help my wreath to fashion; 
Whose sundry colours of one kind, 
First from one root derived, 
Them in their several suits I ’ll bind, 
My garland so contrived.” 
