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For the acquired habits of vegetables, see Tulipa, Orchis. The roots of the Arum are scratched up and eaten by thrushes in severe snowy seasons. Superbus. Proud Pink. There is a kind of pink called Fairchild's mule, which is here supposed to be produced between a Dianthus superbus, and the Garyophyllus, Clove. The Dianthus superbus emits a most fragrant odour, particularly at night.
Some of the flowering plants of old England here dwell contentedly, leafage being free, however few and dwarfed in some cases the bloom. Roses, violets, honeysuckle, pansies, cosmos, phlox, balsams, sunflowers, zinnias, blue Michaelmas daisies, dianthus, nasturtiums, &c., are on common ground with purely tropical plants, while ageratum has become a pestiferous weed.
Even within the limits of the same genus, for instance in Dianthus, these two opposite cases occur. The fertility, both of first crosses and of hybrids, is more easily affected by unfavourable conditions, than is that of pure species.
You may settle that as you please, since the family name of all, even the bearded Sweet-William, is Dianthus, the decisive title of Linnæus, a word from the Greek meaning "flower of Jove," while the highly scented species and varieties of the more or less pungent clove breath remain under the old subtitle Caryophyllus.
As regards the flora the elevated position of parts of the county makes it the home of a number of plants which do not commonly occur in the South of England. Within the British Isles the following are found only in Somerset: Dianthus gratianopolitanus, Hieracium stinolepis, Verbascum lychnitis, and Euphorbia pilosa.
The chaffy scales of the calyx in Xeranthemum, and in a species of Dianthus, and the glume in some alpine grasses, and the scales of the ament in the salix rosea, rose willow, grow into leaves; and produce other kinds of monsters. The double flowers become monsters by the multiplication of their petals or nectaries. See note on Alcea. Vernal grass. Two males, two females.
The Sweet William or Dianthus barbatus affords another instance; it is very interesting because a twisted race is available, which may produce thousands of instances developed in all imaginable degrees, in a single lot of plants. Viscaria oculata is another instance belonging to the same family. I have found them myself in Holland on Galium verum and G. Aparine.
Small Forest Plants, and Vitality of Seed. Another function of the woods, to which I have barely alluded, deserves a fuller notice than can be bestowed upon it in a treatise the scope of which is purely economical. Sempervivum tectorum in abundance, Statice armeria, Ammone vernalis, Dianthus carthusianorum, with other sand-plants, were growing there.
Even within the limits of the same genus, for instance in Dianthus, these two opposite cases occur. The fertility, both of first crosses and of hybrids, is more easily affected by unfavourable conditions, than is the fertility of pure species.
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