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Brassicaceae
Stock
Matthiola incana
Lasting beauty, contented existence, promptness.
- Family
- Brassicaceae
- Genus
- Matthiola
- Native to
- Mediterranean coast
- Bloom season
- Spring, Early Summer
- Type
- Biennial or annual
- Height
- 30–80 cm
- Sunlight
- Full sun to part shade
- Soil
- Rich, well-drained
- Water
- Moderate
- Hardiness
- Annual; perennial in zones 7–10
- Lifespan
- 1–2 years
Did you know
- Stock has one of the most powerful sweet-spicy fragrances in the flower world — a single stem can perfume an entire room.
- It's named after the 16th-century Italian botanist Pietro Andrea Mattioli, who wrote one of the earliest botanical reference books.
- Night-scented stock (Matthiola longipetala) opens its modest flowers only at dusk and releases a clove-and-vanilla scent strong enough to lead you to it in the dark.
- The double-flowered varieties have been cultivated for over 400 years and were a staple of Elizabethan knot gardens.
- In the Victorian language of flowers, stock symbolized 'a happy life' and was a popular wedding flower.
Color meanings
Purple
A bond that lasts