GILLYFLOWER, a name applied to various flowers, but most commonly to the clove pink, Dianthus Caryophyllus, of which the carnation is a cultivated variety, and to the stock, Matthiola incana, a well-known garden favourite. The word is sometimes written gilliflower or gilloflower, and is reputedly a corruption of July-flower, "so called from the month they blow in." The name was originally given in Italy to plants of the pink tribe, especially the carnation, but has in England been transferred of late years to several cruciferous plants. The gillyflower of Chaucer and Spenser and Shakespeare was, as in Italy, Dianthus Caryo phyllus; that of later writers and of gardeners, Mattliiola. The principal other plants which bear the name are the wallflower, Cheiranthus Ciieiri, called wall-gillyflower in old books ; the dame's violet, Hesperis matronalis, called variously the queen's, the rogue's and the winter gillyflower ; the ragged-robin, Lyclinis Flos cuculi, called marsh-gillyflower and cuckoo-gillyflower ; the water violet, Hottonia palustris, called water-gillyflower ; and the thrift, Armeria vulgaris, called sea-gillyflower. As a separate designa tion it is nowadays usually applied to the wallflower.