Carnation / Dianthus caryophyllus
Dianthus caryophyllus is a herbaceous perennial plant growing up to 80 cm tall. The leaves are glaucous greyish green to blue-green, slender, up to 15 cm long. The flowers are produced singly or up to five together they are around 3–5 cm diameter, and sweetly scented; the original natural flower color is bright pinkish-purple, but cultivars of other colors, including red, white, yellow, blue and green, along with some white with colored striped variations have been developed. The fragrant, hermaphrodite flowers have a radial symmetry.
Carnations were mentioned in Greek literature 2,000 years ago. The term dianthus was coined by Greek botanist Theophrastus, and is derived from the Ancient Greek words for divine ("dios") and flower ("anthos"). The name "carnation" is believed to come from the Latin corona-ae, a "wreath, garland, chaplet, crown", as it was one of the flowers used in Greek and Roman ceremonial crowns, or possibly from the Latin caro (genitive carnis), "flesh", which refers to the natural colour of the flower, or in Christian iconography incarnatio, "incarnation", God made flesh in the form of Jesus.
The legend that explains the name is that Diana the Goddess came upon the shepherd boy and took a liking to him. But the boy, for some reason, turned her down. Diana ripped out his eyes and threw them to the ground where they sprouted into the dianthus flower.