# Gilliflower

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For the apple, see [Cornish Gilliflower](/source/Cornish_Gilliflower).

English flower

Gilliflower or gillyflower From English botany, or coloured figures of British plants, ed. 3, vol. 1: t. 105 (1863)

A **gilliflower** or **gillyflower** ([/ˈdʒɪliˌflaʊ.ər/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English))[1] is generally a plant of the genus *[Dianthus](/source/Dianthus)*, especially the clove pink or carnation *[Dianthus caryophyllus](/source/Dianthus_caryophyllus)*,[2] but can also refer to the stock *[Matthiola incana](/source/Matthiola_incana)*,[3] or other plants such as the [wallflower](/source/Erysimum_cheiri) which have similarly fragrant flowers. The name derives from the French *giroflée* from Greek *karyophyllon* = "[nut](/source/Nut_(fruit))-leaf" = the [spice](/source/Spice) called [clove](/source/Clove), the association deriving from the flower's scent.[4]

Gilliflowers were allegedly referenced as payment for [peppercorn rent](/source/Peppercorn_(legal)) in [medieval](/source/Medieval) [feudal-tenure](/source/Feudal_land_tenure_in_England) contracts.[5] For example, in 1262 in [Bedfordshire](/source/Bedfordshire) a tenant held an area of land called The Hyde "for the rent of one clove of gilliflower", and [Elmore Court](/source/Elmore_Court) in Gloucester was granted to the Guise family by John De Burgh for the rent of "The clove of one Gillyflower" each year. In [Kent](/source/Kent) in the 13th century [Bartholomew de Badlesmere](/source/Bartholomew_de_Badlesmere%2C_1st_Baron_Badlesmere) upon an exchange made between King [Edward I](/source/Edward_I_of_England) and himself, received a royal grant [in fee](/source/Fief) of a manor and chapel, to hold in [socage](/source/Socage), "by the service of paying one pair of clove gilliflowers", by the hands of the [Sheriff](/source/Sheriff_of_Kent).[6] However, it is more likely that the rent was paid in the form of actual cloves (in Latin, *gariofilum*; the flower was later named after the spice, via French), cloves and peppercorns both being exotic spices.[7]

An old recipe for gilliflower wine is mentioned in the *Cornish Recipes Ancient & Modern* dated to 1753: "To 3 gallons water put 6lbs of the best powder sugar; boil together for the space of 1/2 an hour; keep skimming; let it stand to cool. Beet up 3 ounces of syrup of [betony](/source/Stachys), with a large spoonful of [ale yeast](/source/Saccharomyces_cerevisiae), put into liquor & brew it well; put a peck of gilliflowers free of stalks; let work fore 3 days covered with a cloth; strain & cask for 3-4 weeks, then bottle."[8]

## In popular culture

A rose and a gillyflower appear on the station badge of [RAF Waterbeach](/source/RAF_Waterbeach) in Cambridgeshire, and subsequently on the badge of [39 Engineer Regiment](/source/Corps_of_Royal_Engineers#Regiments) based at Waterbeach Barracks.

A rose and gillyflower were demanded by the owner of the land on which [Waterbeach Abbey](/source/Waterbeach_Abbey) was built, in the 12th century.[5]

Gilliflowers are mentioned by [Mrs. Lovett](/source/Mrs._Lovett) in the song "Wait" from the [Sondheim](/source/Stephen_Sondheim) musical *[Sweeney Todd](/source/Sweeney_Todd%3A_The_Demon_Barber_of_Fleet_Street).*[9]

They appear in the novel *[La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret](/source/La_Faute_de_l'Abb%C3%A9_Mouret)* (aka Abbe Mouret's Transgression or the Sin of the Father Mouret) by [Émile Zola](/source/%C3%89mile_Zola) as part of the *[Les Rougon-Macquart](/source/Les_Rougon-Macquart)* series.[10]

Charles Ryder calls them gillyflowers, and they grow under his student window at Oxford in the novel *[Brideshead Revisited](/source/Brideshead_Revisited)*.[11]

## Gallery

		- Matthiola incana. Madeira, Portugal

		- "Vintage Lilac," Brookside Gardens, Maryland

		- "Vintage Burgundy," Brookside Gardens, Maryland

		- "Harmony Light Rose," Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania

		- "Hoary stock," East Sussex, England

		- "Peach stock"

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** *Concise Oxford English Dictionary*, OUP Oxford, 2011, p600 (Stephenson and Waite, Ed.s)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** "Gillyflower". Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 Jun. 2008, https://www.britannica.com/plant/gillyflower. Accessed 5 November 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “gillyflower (n.),” September 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/5364608512.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Wedgwood, Hensleigh](/source/Hensleigh_Wedgwood) (1855). ["On False Etymologies"](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3924121;view=1up;seq=76). *Transactions of the Philological Society* (6): 66.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_5-1) Cuttino, G. P. “King’s Clerks and the Community of the Realm.” *Speculum* 29, no. 2 (1954): 395–409. https://doi.org/10.2307/2853958.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Victoria County History

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** West, A. J. (2020). ["When is a Clove a Clove? — Peppercorn Rents"](https://medium.com/@siwaratrikalpa/when-is-a-clove-a-clove-peppercorn-rents-38916ef8aa11). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200525000132/https://medium.com/@siwaratrikalpa/when-is-a-clove-a-clove-peppercorn-rents-38916ef8aa11) from the original on May 25, 2020. Retrieved May 24, 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Marin, Edith (1965). *Cornish Recipes: Ancient & Modern* (22 ed.). Cornwall, UK: The Cornwall Federation of Women's Institutes. p. 5.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Wheeler, Hugh (1991). [*Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street*](https://books.google.com/books?id=GVnVJBd5MEcC&q=gillyflowers). New York: Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 75. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-55783-066-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-55783-066-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Zola, Émile (2022). [*La Faute de l'abbé Mouret*](https://books.google.com/books?id=VS6KEAAAQBAJ) (in French). Germany: Culturea. pp. 59, 83, 121, 270. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-2-38274-742-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-2-38274-742-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Waugh, Evelyn (1944). *Brideshead Revisited*. Boston: Little Brown & Company: Back Bay Books (published 1947). p. 27.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gilliflower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilliflower) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilliflower?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.