The long- pink is nadeshiko, the classic wild pink of Japan — a perennial with pale pink petals cut into fine, feathery fringes. It grows in sunny grasslands and along riverbanks in Japan, and also lives in Korea, China, and Taiwan, but doesn't grow wild in the US. It's often treated as a variety of the very similar fringed pink (Dianthus superbus).
Appearance
- Growth form
- A perennial about 1–2.5 ft (30–80 cm) tall with narrow, stalkless leaves in pairs.
- Flowers
- Five pink petals (white ones are fairly common) deeply cut into thin fringes, held in a long, tube-shaped calyx over 1 in (3 cm) long.
Look-alikes
Fringed pinkDianthus superbus
Very similar. The fringed pink has a shorter calyx and two pairs of small below the flower, while the long-calyx pink has three or four pairs.
Why they get mixed upThey were long treated as the same species, and both have deeply fringed pink petals.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Sunny grasslands
- Riverbanks
- Range
- Native to Japan (Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, plus a few small Okinawan islands), Korea, China, and Taiwan. It isn't known to grow wild in the US.
Growing it
- Care
- Likes full sun, good air flow, and well-drained, rather lean soil, and dislikes hot, humid conditions. Pinching the stems makes plants bushier.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Often listed as Dianthus superbus var. longicalycinus or subsp. longicalycinus; some current checklists treat it as its own species, Dianthus longicalyx.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- In Japan it's also called "Yamato nadeshiko" and is one of the traditional Seven Flowers of Autumn.
- Japanese gardeners grew many unusual flower forms in the Edo period, and one line, Ise nadeshiko, still survives today.
More species to explore
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