Dianthus barbatus
Common names
Sweet William
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Flower colours
Red/Pink, Violet/Purple
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Year naturalised
1872
Origin
Europe, W. Asia
Other information
Etymology note
One of the common names for Dianthus barbatus is ‘gilly-flower’ which is derived from the Greek name for the family Caryophyllaceae (Clayton, 1994).
Etymology
dianthus: From the Greek dios ‘god’ or ‘divine’ and anthos ‘flower, the divine flower
barbatus: From the Latin ‘barbus’, meaning bearded or provided with tufts of long weak hairs
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Clayton, F. (1994). Deities in my Garden: Generic names for plants from old mythology. ETY Publishing Ltd: Paraparaumu, New Zealand.