Common name: Sweet William
Botanical name: Dianthus barbatus
Dianthus barbatus (Sweet William) is a species of Dianthus native to the mountains of southern Europe from the Pyrenees east to the Carpathians and the Balkans, with a variety disjunct in northeastern China, Korea, and southeasternmost Russia. It is a herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant growing to 30-75 cm tall, with green to glaucous blue-green tapered leaves 4-10 cm long and 1-2 cm broad. The flowers are produced in a dense cluster of up to 30 at the top of the stems and have a spicy, clovelike scent; each flower is 2–3 cm diameter with five petals with serrated edges; in wild plants the petals are red with a white base.
