History of carnations

From Gardening Wiki

The History of Carnations

Turning first to the writers of antiquity, no description of the Carnations (Dianthus Caryophyllusy Linn.) can be recognised in ancient Greek and Roman authors. Theophrastus uses the word dianthe, meaning either " double- flowering " or " variegated/' or, as others think, " hermaphrodite," but as the sexes of ordinary plants (excepting a few such as the Date Palm) were unknown, this last suggestion is impossible. Curiously enough, Shakespeare introduced the idea of crossing in reference to Gillyflowers :

PERDITA. The fairest flowers o' the season Are our carnations and streak' d gilloflowers, Which some call nature's bastards : of that kind Our rustic garden's barren, and I care not To get slips of them.

Winter's Tale, Act iv. sc. iii.

CARNATIONS AND PINKS

Gilloflowers may here mean variegated Stocks, to which this name became transferred from the Carnation. Gerarde (1597) calls them " Stock Gilloflowers." As the Clove was called Cariophillon, or sometimes Gariophlus } in the fifteenth century, the Carnation was known as Caryophyllus, having a similar scent. The Clove is in French "Clou de Girofle," Giroflee being the Wallflower. Though Cloves are mentioned in various recipes, there does not appear to be any reference to the Carnation before the sixteenth century. Chaucer says, "And many a clove gelofre and note muge to put in ale." This has been thought to refer to the Carnation, but it is clearly the spice he refers to. Gelofere and golofer were other spellings in the fourteenth century.

Girofle seems to have been a French corruption of Caryophyllon, the latter being the Greek karuon, a "nut" or "fruit-stone," and phullon, a "leaf," but the connexion with clove is obscure. Then, by a transposition of ph and /it became gelofer and gillyflower. Lastly, Professor Bradley in 1727 wrote it Jully- flower, and so we arrive at July-flower, the name known to herbalists in the eighteenth century. Another Latin name for the Carnation was Vetonica. This is used as the titles or headings of the plates in his Imagines Stirpium, &c., by Dodonaeus (Dodoens, 1559), but Matthiolus in his Commentary on Dioscoridessays he failed to discover who was the author of this name. Dodoens calls the Carnation Vetonica altilis (i.e. fat or juicy). Yet another name was Ocellus, "a little eye," hence the modern French name was Gillet.

The Early History of Carnations

Gerarde observes that Ruellius thought that " the Gilloflower was vnknowen to the olde writers, especially bicause this flower is not like to that of Vetonica or Cantabrica" (possibly the Pink). It is " marvel 1," saith he, " that such a famous flower, so pleasant and sweete, should lie hid, and not be made knowen by the olde writers, which may be thought not inferior to the Rose in beautie, smell and varietie." The word Carnation has been thought by some to be derived from caro carnis, the Latin for flesh, from the colour of some varieties. One, indeed, Gerarde says, was called " Horseflesh." The name, however, was more correctly spelt Coronation, " as the flowers were used in chaplets," as C. Stephanus says, in France, by girls (sixteenth century). It was cultivated in the division of the garden called Area coronalis. It is not known when it was introduced as a garden flower into England, but as it is found semi-wild on old abbey and monastic ruins, it was probably grown early in the gardens of the monks. It would certainly require some time to attain the size figured by Gerarde, if his Caryophyllus maximus multiplex, or " the great double Carnation," be at all true to nature. It is represented as being three inches in diameter. By the end of the sixteenth century the varieties cultivated were innumerable, for Gerarde, writing in 1597, says : "There are at this day, under the name of Caryophyllus, comprehended diuers and sundrie sorts of plants, of such variable colours and also severall shapes that a great and large volume would not suffice to write of every one at large in particular, considering how infinite they are."

Dianthus

The name Dianthus was given to the genus by Linnaeus, apparently adapting it from the Greek Dios anthos, meaning "Jove's flower," recommended by Pliny for coronal purposes. It would appear to have been the species of Agrostemma which Linnaeus named Coronaria. It has been grown in England since 1596. In France, however, the name was applied in the sixteenth century to the Pasque-flower, or Anemone Pulsatilla, now known as " Coquelourde."

Hybridisation and Carnations

The Carnation was the first plant upon which hybridisation was practically performed. Richard Bradley in his " New Improvements of Planting and Gardening, both Philosophical and Practical" (1717), says : "The Carnation and Sweet William are in some respects alike : the farina of one will impregnate the other, and the seed so enlivened will produce a plant differing from either, as may be now seen in the garden of Mr. Thomas Fairchild, resembling both equally, which was raised from the seed of a Carnation that had been impregnated by the farina of the Sweet William." Bradley, who was Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge, does not appear to have entertained the idea of natural hybrids, but in his work, "Ten Practical Discourses concerning Earth and Water, Fire and Air, as they relate to the Growth of Plants," 1727, he writes upon the saving of seed. " If we save it from such Plants as stood among a good collection, we may expect variety enough from it, according to the system of the generation of Plants." In illustration he alludes to the Tulip, "The Triumph of Europe/' from which Mr. S. Trawell saved seed. " It has a particular manner of flowering, very different from many other curious Tulips, as the seedlings partake of them all." This is suspiciously suggestive of intercrossing by insects.

This species was named Dianthus barbatus by Linnaeus, from the bearded character of the petals. It was known in the sixteenth century as Lychnis monachorum hortensis and Caryophyllus Carthusianorum, these names showing that it was probably introduced by the Carthusian monks, who came to England somewhere about the twelfth century. The name 11 William appears to have been a corruption from the French " GEillet," from Ocellus, " little eye."

Some varieties with narrow leaves were called " Sweete lohns." Gerarde describes them under the names Armeria alba and A. rubra. Like the Carnation, the Sweet William soon formed many varieties, so that Tournefort, after describing several special varieties, adds, " There are infinite varieties of this species, which you may find in Parkinson and other authors who have written of flowers" (1730).