Common Name: PINK FAMILY
Habit: Annual to perennial herb; rarely dioecious (Silene), taprooted or rhizome generally slender. Leaf: simple, generally opposite (subwhorled), entire, pairs at nodes often +- connected at bases; stipules generally 0; petiole generally 0. Inflorescence: generally cyme, generally open; flowers 1--many; involucre generally 0 (present in Dianthus, Petrorhagia). Flower: generally bisexual, radial; hypanthium often present but obscure; sepals (4)5, +- free or fused into a tube, margins generally scarious, more so on inner 2 or not, tube generally not scarious, awns generally 0; petals (4)5 or 0, generally tapered to base (or with claw long, limb expanded), entire to 2--several-lobed, limb generally without scale-like appendages adaxially, generally without ear-like lobes at base; stamens generally 10, generally fertile, generally free, generally from ovary base; nectaries 0 or 5; ovary superior, generally 1-chambered, placentas basal or free-central, styles 2--5 with 0 branches or 1 with 2--3 branches. Fruit: capsule or utricle (rarely +- dehiscent), generally sessile. Seed: appendage generally 0 (present in Moehringia).
Genera In Family: 83 or 89 genera, 3000 species: widespread, especially arctic, alpine, temperate northern hemisphere; some cultivated (Agrostemma, Arenaria, Cerastium, Dianthus, Gypsophila, Lychnis, Sagina, Saponaria, Silene, Vaccaria). Note: Apetalous Caryophyllaceae can also be keyed in Rabeler & Hartman 2005 FNANM 5:5--8.
eFlora Treatment Author: Ronald L. Hartman & Richard K. Rabeler, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: CARNATION, PINK
Habit: Annual to perennial herb, erect, taprooted or rhizomed. Leaf: linear to oblanceolate; vein 1 or lateral 2 less prominent. Inflorescence: terminal; few- to many-flowered, dense, or 1--few-flowered, open; involucre bracts 2--6, linear to ovate; pedicels 0--25 mm. Flower: sepals 5, fused, glabrous to hairy, tube prominent, 1.3--2.2 cm, 1.8--3.3 mm diam, +- cylindric, veins 20--45[60], lobes 3--8 mm, < tube, triangular to lanceolate; petals 5, 13--24 mm, claw long, limb irregularly toothed or divided to narrow segments, unappendaged; stamen bases fused with petal bases to ovary stalk; styles 2, 5--12 mm. Fruit: capsule, +- tubular; stalk 1--4 mm; teeth 4, ascending. Seed: many, black.
Species In Genus: 320 species: Eurasia, southern Africa. Etymology: (Greek: divine flower, from beauty or fragrance of flower)
Reference: Rabeler & Hartman 2005 FNANM 5:159--162