What is "dianthus caryophyllus"

Gillyflower \Gil"ly*flow`er\, n. [OE. gilofre, gilofer, clove, OF. girofre, girofle, F. girofle: cf. F. girofl['e]e gillyflower, fr. girofle, Gr. ? clove tree; ? nut + ? leaf, akin to E. foliage. Cf. Caryophyllus, July-flower.] [Written also gilliflower.] (Bot.)

1. A name given by old writers to the clove pink ( Dianthus Caryophyllus) but now to the common stock ( Matthiola incana), a cruciferous plant with showy and fragrant blossoms, usually purplish, but often pink or white.

2. A kind of apple, of a roundish conical shape, purplish red color, and having a large core.

   Clove gillyflower, the clove pink.

   Marsh gillyflower, the ragged robin ( Lychnis Flos-cuculi).

   Queen's gillyflower, or Winter gillyflower, damewort.

   Sea gillyflower, the thrift ( Armeria vulgaris).

   Wall gillyflower, the wallflower ( Cheiranthus Cheiri).

   Water gillyflower, the water violet.

Pink \Pink\, n. [Perh. akin to pick; as if the edges of the petals were picked out. Cf. Pink, v. t.]

1. (Bot.) A name given to several plants of the caryophyllaceous genus Dianthus, and to their flowers, which are sometimes very fragrant and often double in cultivated varieties. The species are mostly perennial herbs, with opposite linear leaves, and handsome five-petaled flowers with a tubular calyx.

2. A color resulting from the combination of a pure vivid red with more or less white; -- so called from the common color of the flower.
   --Dryden.

3. Anything supremely excellent; the embodiment or perfection of something. ``The very pink of courtesy.''
   --Shak.

4. (Zo["o]l.) The European minnow; -- so called from the color of its abdomen in summer. [Prov. Eng.]

   Bunch pink is Dianthus barbatus.

   China pink, or Indian pink. See under China.

   Clove pink is Dianthus Caryophyllus, the stock from which carnations are derived.

   Garden pink. See Pheasant's eye.

   Meadow pink is applied to Dianthus deltoides; also, to the ragged robin.

   Maiden pink, Dianthus deltoides.

   Moss pink. See under Moss.

   Pink needle, the pin grass; -- so called from the long, tapering points of the carpels. See Alfilaria.

   Sea pink. See Thrift.

Carnation \Car*na"tion\, n. [F. carnation the flesh tints in a painting, It carnagione, fr. L. carnatio fleshiness, fr. caro, carnis, flesh. See Carnal.]

1. The natural color of flesh; rosy pink.

   Her complexion of the delicate carnation.
   --Ld. Lytton.

2. pl. (Paint.) Those parts of a picture in which the human body or any part of it is represented in full color; the flesh tints.

   The flesh tints in painting are termed carnations.
   --Fairholt.

3. (Bot.) A species of Dianthus ( Dianthus Caryophyllus) or pink, having very beautiful flowers of various colors, esp. white and usually a rich, spicy scent.

Dianthus caryophyllus, carnation or clove pink, is a species of Dianthus. It is probably native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years.

It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 80 cm tall. The leaves are glaucous greyish green to blue-green, slender, up to 15 cm long. The flowers are produced singly or up to five together in a cyme; they are 3–5 cm diameter, and sweetly scented; the original natural flower colour is bright pinkish-purple, but cultivars of other colours, including red, white, yellow and green, have been developed.

Some fragrance-less carnation cultivars are often used as boutonnieres for men.