Dianthus- A Flower with History

As part of our winter planting in the butterfly garden exhibit we have included one of my favorite flowers. Bright red Dianthus have been placed in low pots around the garden. They are bright, cheery, and serve as a nectar source for some of our butterflies.

The genus Dianthus contains about 300 species of flowering plants found mostly in Europe and Asia with a few species in North Africa. Just one Dianthus species is found in North America. Known as the Boreal Carnation or Northern Pink (Dianthus repens) is found only in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon Territory.

Mostly herbaceous perennials, Dianthus species have five petals and are usually found in colors ranging from white to pink to red. Some of the Dianthus species you may be familiar with are Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus), Pink (Dianthus plumarius and related species) and Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus). The species Dianthus chinensis has been widely hybridized and can be found in most garden centers and nurseries.

With their bright colors and frilly or 'pinked' petals, Dianthus flowers have been popular for  hundreds of years and remain easy to recognize in the art of ages past. Pinks can be found in Medieval illuminated manuscripts. This image is a scene from a Medieval prayer book known as a Book of Hours.

This central painting depicts the Annunciation, but in the border are flowers that we can still recognize today. Painted around 1480 in Ghent for William, Lord Hastings, the Hastings Hours contains detailed paintings of many popular medieval flowers including pinks. The bright red flowers located on the left hand side and at the bottom of the page are perfect, five-petal and frill-edged pinks.

The Hastings Hours is held in the collection of the British Library in London, England.

Pinks can be seen elsewhere in Medieval art by looking at the flowers in tapestries. The famous Unicorn Tapestry series was woven in the Netherlands sometimes around 1495 to 1505 and in addition to the unicorns and lovely ladies depicted in the tapestries, hundreds of flowers are used as decoration in each panel.

The seventh and most famous tapestry in the series, The Unicorn in Captivity, depicts a unicorn tethered to a tree inside a short fence among a field of flowers. Here is a small detail from that field of flowers showing Dianthus growing at the base of the fence that surrounds the unicorn. Take an even closer look at this bunch of flowers and you will see a white butterfly perched atop one of the flowers and posed as if drinking from the flower.

The Unicorn in Captivity is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.