Gillyflower

GILLYFLOWER⁽¹⁾ s. Bot. herbaceous plant in the cruciferae family, which includes about fifteen species. Some of them are cultivated in gardens, because of the scent and beauty of their flowers: a bunch of gillyflower.
– Also applies to the flowers of these plants: white, red, violet, yellow gillyflowers.
– Encycl. Gillyflowers grow in temperate regions of the boreal hemisphere. The largest species, the aegean wallflower (cheiranthus cheiri), arguably originated in Spain. It can be found in rocky places and on old walls; at springtime, it bears flowers of a brownish yellow colour which form strongly scented flowerheads. The straw colour’d wallflower bears pale yellow flowers. The garden stock or Brompton stock belongs to the genus Matthiola (matthiola incana); its leaves are whitish, and its flowers are red, violet, variegated or white; it is the origin of a very beautiful double flowered variety. The ten-weeks stock (matthiola annua) offers many varieties with white, purple-red or variegated flowers. the virginia stock is malcomia maritima. Gillyflowers are usually hardy; they are propagated through seeds or cuttings.
 
Extract from the Trousset encyclopedia, 1886 – 1891.
 
1) This article should only be considered as an indication of how much plant taxonomy and classification have changed over more than a century.