First published by Oak Spring Garden Foundation through Google Arts and Culture, 2017.
Nearly 2,000 years ago, Greek philosopher Theophrastus composed his Historia Plantarum, the first written botanical encyclopedia in history. Within that volume, Theophrastus described the structure and function of trees, shrubs, herbs, and more, largely influencing scientific development in the middle ages and earning him the name, “The Father of Botany”.
When confronted with naming a family of beautiful wild flowering plants, Theophrastus dubbed them “Dianthus”; combining the greek “Dios,” or divine, and “Anthos,” for flower.
These “divine flowers” were ancestors to what we know as modern carnations, and after two millennia of cultivation dozens of garden varieties of carnations, known as ‘pinks,’ have developed, in addition to the nearly 300 different species of wild carnations that preexisted Theophrastus.
At the time of Ehret’s work on “Admiral Vernon,” new varieties of Dianthusdeveloped in France were revolutionizing carnation growing, expanding the carnations’ flowering season from summer to a year round bloom, intensifying Europe’s carnation craze to an all-time high. Also in this period, every class of carnation imaginable was being named after countries’ royal families and famous figures. By 1858, there were over 60 different ‘pinks’ named after different Lords.
Since dianthus were first recognized for their heavenly appearance two millennia ago they have remained widely popular, featured in famous texts from the Historia Plantarum to Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale, and their beauty has inspired a recognition of royalty whenever a new variety is bred.
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