{{for|the apple|Cornish Gilliflower}}{{Short description|English flower}} {{Infobox | title = Gilliflower or gillyflower | image = 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 wallflower which have similarly fragrant flowers. The name derives from the French ''giroflée'' from Greek ''karyophyllon'' = "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 rent in medieval 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 upon an exchange made between King Edward I and himself, received a royal grant 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.<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 betony, with a large spoonful of 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 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 Sondheim musical ''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