Dianthus carthusianorum (Carthusian pink)

Common throughout Europe, occurring naturally from Spain and France (but not Britain) east to Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine, and south to Italy, Greece and Turkey.

A perennial, up to 60 cm tall, with narrow, grass-like leaves and dense heads of flowers. The individual flowers have magenta, purple or pink (occasionally white), toothed petals, and a narrow, tube-shaped calyx. The flowers, which are only lightly scented, are borne in flat-headed clusters on slender, upright stems throughout the summer. Pollination is carried out by butterflies (those with probosces long enough to reach the nectar at the base of the narrow, tube-shaped calyx).

Illustration of Dianthus carthusianorum by an unknown artist (1819), taken from Curtis's Botanical Magazine (Image: RBG Kew)

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (Editor: Martyn Rix) provides an international forum of particular interest to botanists and horticulturists, plant ecologists and those with a special interest in botanical illustration.

Now well over two hundred years old, the Magazine is the longest running botanical periodical featuring colour illustrations of plants. Each four-part volume contains 24 plant portraits reproduced from watercolour originals by leading international botanical artists. Detailed but accessible articles combine horticultural and botanical information, history, conservation and economic uses of the plants described.

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Carthusian pink is common in the wild throughout much of Central Europe, but is considered to be rare in some parts of its range (e.g. in Bulgaria). A study carried out on a large population of Dianthus carthusianorum in the Rhône Valley in the Swiss Alps concluded that persistence of this population was at risk because its pollination was dependent on two vulnerable butterfly species (the great sooty satyr Satyrus ferula and the marbled white Melanargia galathea). A form of the Carthusian pink, restricted to the Hrubý Jeseník Mountains in the Czech Republic, is recognised as being a distinct subspecies (Dianthus carthusianorum subsp. sudeticus), and was listed as threatened by the Council of Europe in 1993.

Carthusian monks traditionally used the plant to treat muscle pain and rheumatism. Some forms of Carthusian pink can tolerate soils containing heavy metals, such as lead and zinc, and are therefore useful for re-vegetating polluted areas. Carthusian pink is cultivated as an ornamental.

The Millennium Seed Bank partnership aims to save plant life worldwide, focusing on plants under threat and those of most use in the future. Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in Kew's seed bank vault at Wakehurst.

Description of seeds: Average 1,000 seed weight = 1.77 g.
Collections stored in the Millennium Seed Bank: Five.
Seed storage behaviour: Orthodox.
Germination testing: 100 % germination was achieved on a 1% agar medium, at a temperature of 21°C, on a cycle of 12 hours daylight/12 hours darkness.

Carthusian pink will do well in any well-drained soil in full sun. It is particularly suited to growing in sunny borders.

Carthusian pink can be seen growing in the Rock Garden and the Queen’s Garden (behind Kew Palace) at Kew.

Pressed and dried specimens of Dianthus carthusianorum are held in Kew’s Herbarium, where they are available to researchers by appointment. The details of some of these specimens can be seen on-line in the Herbarium Catalogue.

Search Kew’s science databases for more information on this species

Kew News (27/01/2011) - carnations show the fastest known diversification rate in plants

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (Wiley-Blackwell)