Dianthus armeria

Native to Western Asia and Europe. Introduced, escaped from cultivation and naturalized in the United States.

Upland prairies, forest openings, roadsides, railroads, disturbed sites

July to August

Pinkish-red to purplish-red with white spots

8″ to 24″

This is a 8″ to 24″ tall, erect, annual or biennial forb that rises on one to several stems from a slender taproot.

The stems are erect, round, hollow, and usually unbranched, occasionally forked above the middle. They are hairless near the base but moderately covered with curled hairs at the nodes and near the top.

There are many basal leaves and 5 to 10 pairs of stem leaves. Stem leaves are opposite, linear to narrowly inversely lance-shaped, ¾″ to 4″ long, and ⅛″ to 3 ⁄16″ wide. They are attached to the stem without a stalk. Basal leaves are tapered to a blunt tip, stem leaves are sharply pointed at the tip. The upper and lower surfaces are minutely hairy. The margins are untoothed.

The inflorescence is occasionally a solitary flower or, more commonly, an open cluster of 3 to 6 flowers at the end of the stem and branches. The flowers appear almost stalkless on 1 ⁄32″ to ⅛″ long stalks.

The flowers are ⅓″ to ½″ wide. There are 5 sepals fused at the base into a tube (calyx) up to ⅝″ long and ⅛″ in diameter, then separated into 5 lobes. The calyx has 20 to 25 parallel veins and is densely hairy. The calyx lobes are linear and are tapered to a sharply-pointed tip. At the base of the calyx there are 1 to 3 pairs of bracts forming a secondary calyx (epicalyx). The bracts are green, linear, ascending, stiff, hairy, and as long or longer than the sepals. There are 5 pinkish-red to purplish-red petals with numerous white spots. The petals are narrowed at the base (clawed) and expanded at the tip into ⅛″ to 5 ⁄16″ long lobes. The lobes are irregularly toothed at the tip. There are 10 stamens with pink anthers and 2 styles.

The fruit is a ⅜″ to ⅝″ long capsule with 40 to 100 or more seeds.

Maiden pink (Dianthus deltoides) calyx is hairless. The petals are broader.