{{for|the apple|Cornish Gilliflower}}{{Short description|English flower}} {{Infobox | title = Gilliflower or gillyflower | image = [[File:Matthiola incana illustration.jpg|200px]] | caption = From English botany, or coloured figures of British plants, ed. 3, vol. 1: t. 105 (1863) }} A '''gilliflower''' or '''gillyflower''' ({{IPAc-en|'|dʒ|ɪ|l|i|,|f|l|aʊ|.|ər}})<ref>''Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', OUP Oxford, 2011, p600 (Stephenson and Waite, Ed.s)</ref> is generally a plant of the genus ''[[Dianthus]]'', especially the clove pink or carnation ''[[Dianthus caryophyllus]]'',<ref>"Gillyflower". Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 Jun. 2008, <nowiki>https://www.britannica.com/plant/gillyflower</nowiki>. Accessed 5 November 2024.</ref> but can also refer to the stock ''[[Matthiola incana]]'',<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “gillyflower (n.),” September 2024, <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/5364608512</nowiki>.</ref> or other plants such as the [[Erysimum cheiri|wallflower]] which have similarly fragrant flowers. The name derives from the French ''giroflée'' from Greek ''karyophyllon'' = "[[Nut (fruit)|nut]]-leaf" = the [[spice]] called [[clove]], the association deriving from the flower's scent.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wedgwood |first=Hensleigh |author-link=Hensleigh Wedgwood |year=1855 |title=On False Etymologies |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3924121;view=1up;seq=76 |journal=Transactions of the Philological Society |issue=6 |pages=66}}</ref>
Gilliflowers were allegedly referenced as payment for [[Peppercorn (legal)|peppercorn rent]] in [[medieval]] [[Feudal land tenure in England|feudal-tenure]] contracts.<ref name=":0">Cuttino, G. P. “King’s Clerks and the Community of the Realm.” ''Speculum'' 29, no. 2 (1954): 395–409. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.2307/2853958</nowiki>.</ref> For example, in 1262 in [[Bedfordshire]] a tenant held an area of land called The Hyde "for the rent of one clove of gilliflower", and [[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]] in the 13th century [[Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere|Bartholomew de Badlesmere]] upon an exchange made between King [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] and himself, received a royal grant [[fief|in fee]] of a manor and chapel, to hold in [[socage]], "by the service of paying one pair of clove gilliflowers", by the hands of the [[Sheriff of Kent|Sheriff]].<ref>Victoria County History</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title =When is a Clove a Clove? — Peppercorn Rents|url=https://medium.com/@siwaratrikalpa/when-is-a-clove-a-clove-peppercorn-rents-38916ef8aa11|last=West|first=A. J.|date =2020|website=|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525000132/https://medium.com/@siwaratrikalpa/when-is-a-clove-a-clove-peppercorn-rents-38916ef8aa11|archive-date=May 25, 2020|access-date=May 24, 2020}}</ref>
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 [[Stachys|betony]], with a large spoonful of [[Saccharomyces cerevisiae|ale yeast]], 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."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marin |first=Edith |title=Cornish Recipes: Ancient & Modern |publisher=The Cornwall Federation of Women's Institutes |year=1965 |edition=22 |location=Cornwall, UK |pages=5}}</ref>
==In popular culture== A rose and a gillyflower appear on the station badge of [[RAF Waterbeach]] in Cambridgeshire, and subsequently on the badge of [[Corps of Royal Engineers#Regiments|39 Engineer Regiment]] based at Waterbeach Barracks.
A rose and gillyflower were demanded by the owner of the land on which [[Waterbeach Abbey]] was built, in the 12th century.<ref name=":0" />
Gilliflowers are mentioned by [[Mrs. Lovett]] in the song "Wait" from the [[Stephen Sondheim|Sondheim]] musical ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street|Sweeney Todd]].''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wheeler |first=Hugh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GVnVJBd5MEcC&q=gillyflowers |title=Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street |date=1991 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-1-55783-066-1 |location=New York |pages=75 |language=en}}</ref>
They appear in the novel ''[[La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret]]'' (aka Abbe Mouret's Transgression or the Sin of the Father Mouret) by [[Émile Zola]] as part of the ''[[Les Rougon-Macquart]]'' series.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zola |first=Émile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VS6KEAAAQBAJ |title=La Faute de l'abbé Mouret |publisher=Culturea |year=2022 |isbn=978-2-38274-742-1 |location=Germany |pages=59, 83, 121, 270 |language=fr}}</ref>
Charles Ryder calls them gillyflowers, and they grow under his student window at Oxford in the novel ''[[Brideshead Revisited]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waugh |first=Evelyn |title=Brideshead Revisited |publisher=Little Brown & Company: Back Bay Books |year=1944 |location=Boston |publication-date=1947 |pages=27}}</ref>
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Matthiola incana. Madeira, Portugal.jpg|Matthiola incana. Madeira, Portugal File:Matthiola incana Vintage Lilac 3zz.jpg|"Vintage Lilac," Brookside Gardens, Maryland File:Matthiola incana Vintage Burgundy 0zz.jpg|"Vintage Burgundy," Brookside Gardens, Maryland File:Matthiola incana Harmony Light Rose 2zz.jpg|"Harmony Light Rose," Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania File:Hoary Stock (Matthiola incana) (3500419409).jpg|"Hoary stock," East Sussex, England File:Matthiola Incana peach.jpg|"Peach stock" </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
[[Category:Plant common names]] [[Category:Garden plants]]