Species
+

Dianthus barbatus L.

Bart-Nelke (DE), Sweet William [Dianthus], Sweet-William, Sweet-William (EN)

Climate known 59 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Dianthus barbatus, the sweet William, is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, native to southern Europe and parts of Asia. It has become a popular ornamental garden plant. It is a herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant growing to 13–92 cm tall, with flowers in a dense cluster of up to 30 at the top of the stems. Each flower is 2–3 cm diameter with five petals displaying serrated edges. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Dianthus barbatus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Dianthus

Dianthus is a genus of about 340 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia, with a few species in northern and southern Africa, and one species (D. repens) in arctic North America. A least two species are introduced in North America: Dianthus armeria and Dianthus deltoides. Common names include carnation (D. caryophyllus), pink, and sweet william (D. barbatus).

Text from Wikipedia, “Dianthus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Caryophyllaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary +12
Wild records
642 in range· 439 open

At a glance

Warmest month
22°C
Jul, mean day; nights 14 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
944mm/yr
12 wet months · peak May 91 mm (CHELSA)
Light
6–36DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (May to December in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 944 mm a year, wettest May at 91 mm, driest February at 60 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -9.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Caryophyllus barbatus (L.) Moench; Cylichnanthus barbatus (L.) Dulac; Dianthus aggregatus Poir.; Dianthus barbatus f. volhyniensis Zapal.; Dianthus barbatus subsp. girardinii (Lamotte) Nyman and 16 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (May to December in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (674 mm of 944 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 17.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to June.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 944 mm a year, wettest May at 91 mm, driest February at 60 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

944 mm a year at the habitat, 674 mm of it May to December. Wettest month May at 91 mm, driest February at 60 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 674 mm to 1607 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 4, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -9.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -9.8 °C, the absolute minimum -24.8 °C, about 104 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -2.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells -9.2 °C to 2.5 °C), warmest day 22.3 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -9.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 4 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Jul; mean night from -3 °C in Jan to 14 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 944 mm of rain a year, most in May. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 602 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -24.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost32.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-24.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 6–36RH 60–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 602 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C4 / -2–95 / -1–99 / 3–1213 / 7–1517 / 12–1920 / 16–2322 / 18–2522 / 18–2519 / 14–2114 / 10–178 / 3–124 / -1–9
Night °C-3 / -9–3-3 / -9–21 / -5–44 / -2–68 / 3–1011 / 6–1314 / 9–1614 / 9–1610 / 5–137 / 1–102 / -4–6-2 / -8–3
Rain mm73 / 39–13160 / 36–10868 / 45–12569 / 47–13391 / 64–15185 / 55–16282 / 52–17681 / 50–16682 / 56–13888 / 59–14982 / 53–14783 / 52–152
DLI8 / 5–1213 / 10–1821 / 17–2629 / 27–3334 / 32–3736 / 33–4035 / 33–4130 / 28–3522 / 19–2815 / 12–199 / 6–136 / 4–10
RH %65 / 60–6963 / 59–6761 / 58–6460 / 57–6360 / 58–6360 / 58–6460 / 57–6460 / 57–6462 / 59–6564 / 61–6666 / 61–6967 / 60–70

Each figure is the median across the 602 grid cells holding the 632 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 943:3612 (42.825, 0.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -24.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -9.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 602 distinct grid cells holding the 632 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 943:3612 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 43.00_0.625, lapse-corrected +256 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1122 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAustria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Primorye, Manchuria, Korea· introduced: Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Albania, Belarus, Baltic States, Central European Russia, East European Russia, South European Russia, Altay, Buryatiya, West Siberia, Amur, Khabarovsk, Sakhalin, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, East Himalaya, West Himalaya, Kermadec Is., New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Marianas, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Québec, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, California, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Bolivia
Kew's description“subshrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker48.059, 10.418 · in the densest population, 360 records (56% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 642 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 439 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 22 km away. 1225 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 10 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 642 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dianthus barbatusDianthus barbatusDianthus barbatusDianthus barbatusDianthus barbatusDianthus barbatusDianthus barbatusDianthus barbatus

Photographs: (c) giantcicada, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Bobo-X, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Roman A. Lagazyuk (Роман А. Лагазюк), some rights reserved (CC BY) (5).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Dianthus barbatus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

The Effect of Germicides on the Longevity of Cut Flowers
Rodney B. Jones, Megan Hill (1993) · Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
HOST RANGE STUDIES WITH FIFTY‐TWO PLANT VIRUSES
M. Hollings (1959) · Annals of Applied Biology
Type 1 ribosome-inactivating proteins depurinate plant 25S rRNA without species specificity
J. Prestle, Max Schönfelder, G. Adam, Karl-Wolfgang Mundry (1992) · Nucleic Acids Research
SOME PROPERTIES OF FOUR VIRUSES ISOLATED FROM CARNATION PLANTS
B. Kassanis (1955) · Annals of Applied Biology
Investigations of carnation viruses
M. Hollings, OLWEN M. STONE, P. T. Atkey, R. Barton (1977) · Annals of Applied Biology
A simple model for nondestructive leaf area estimation in bedding plants
F. Giuffrida, Youssef Rouphael, Stefania Toscano, D. Scuderi (2011) · Photosynthetica
Selenium foliar application alleviates salinity stress in sweet william (Dianthus barbatus L.) by enhancing growth and reducing oxidative damage
Haider Adnan Alvan, Zohreh Jabbarzadeh, Javad Rezapour Fard, Parviz Noruzi (2025) · Scientific Reports
FINE STRUCTURE OF NUCLEAR CRYSTALS IN LEAVES OF TWO DIANTHUS SPECIES
M. Weintraub, H. W. J. Ragetli, Marga Veto (1968) · American Journal of Botany
Comparison of High Tunnel and Field Production of Specialty Cut Flowers in the Midwest
Michael A. Ortiz, Krystyna Hyrczyk, Roberto G. López (2012) · HortScience
An example of ant‐assisted plant invasion
J. M. B. Smith (1989) · Australian Journal of Ecology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Dianthus 6 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 143 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.