All these are nourished with vs in Gardens, none of their naturall places being knowne, except one before recited, and the yellow which is Silesia; many of them being hardly preserued and encreased.
The Time.
They flower not vntill the heate of the yeare, which is in Iuly (vnlesse it be an extraordinary occasion) and continue flowring, vntill the colds of the Autumne checke them, or vntill they haue wholly out spent themselues, and are vsually encreased by the slips.
The Names.
Most of our later Writers doe call them by one generall name, Caryophyllus sativus, and flos Caryophylleus, adding thereunto maximus, when wee meane Carnations, and maior when we would expresse Gilloflowers, which name is taken from Cloues, in that the sent of the ordinary red Gilloflower especially doth resemble them. Diuers other seuerall names haue beene formerly giuen them, as Vetonica, or Betonica altera, or Vetonica altilis, and coronaria. Herba Tunica, Viola Damascena, Ocellus Damascenus, and Barbaricus. Of some Cantabrica Plinij. Some thinke they were vnknowne to the Ancients, and some would haue them to be Iphium of Theophrastus, wherof he maketh mention in his sixth and seuenth Chapters of his sixth booke, among Garland and Summer flowers; others to be his Dios anthos, or Iouis flos, mentioned in the former, and in other places. We call them in English (as I said before) the greatest kindes, Carnations, and the others Gilloflowers (quasi Iuly flowers) as they are seuerally expressed.
The Vertues.
The red or Cloue Gilloflower is most vsed in Physicke in our Apothecaries shops, none of the other being accepted of or vsed (and yet I doubt not, but all of them might serue, and to good purpose, although not to giue so gallant a tincture to a Syrupe as the ordinary red will doe) and is accounted to be very Cordiall.
Chap. LXX.
Caryophylli siluestres. Pinkes.
There remaine diuers sorts of wilde or small Gilloflowers (which wee vsually call Pinkes) to be entreated of, some bearing single, and some double flowers, some smooth, almost without any deepe dents on the edges, and some iagged, or as it were feathered. Some growing vpright like vnto Gilloflowers, others creeping or spreading vnder the toppe or crust of the ground, some of one colour, some of another, and many of diuers colours: As I haue formerly done with the Gilloflowers, so must I doe with these that are entertained in our Gardens, onely giue you the descriptions of some three or foure of them, according to their variety, and the names of the rest, with their distinctions.