Scarlet Carnation
(Dianthus caryophyllus)
Adopted in February 3, 1904.
The red carnation, Dianthus
caryophyllus, was adopted as Ohio's
state flower on February 3, 1904 in
memory of President William McKinley,
who always wore a red carnation in his
lapel.
Native to Eurasia, first being
mentioned in use in garlands by
classical Greeks and Romans. The flower
was named for the Greek dios refering to
the god Zeus, and anthos meaning flower,
refering to the "flower of the gods".
Originally beginning on Long Island in this country in 1852 with
imported French carnations, the industry
was centered in the Northeast until the
middle of this century.
Dr. Levi L. Lamborn was one of the
prominent residents of Alliance. One day
he was eager to reveal the first
carnation to bloom in America to his
close friend and political opponent,
William McKinley. Being an amateur
horticulturist, and also a physician and
politician, Dr. Lamborn had successfully
propagated one of the six carnation
seedlings he had imported from France.
He was very excited and proud of this
beautiful scarlet carnation and later
aptly named it the "Lamborn Red"
carnation.
On noting how impressed William McKinley
was with this scarlet flower, it is
reported that Dr. Lamborn removed the
fragrant blossom from the its stem and
placed it in his friend's lapel. From
that day forward, McKinley was a devoted
enthusiast of carnations. When William
McKinley became the twenty-fifth
President of the United States on
November 3, 1896, he proudly wore a "Lamborn
Red" carnation in his lapel.
In September of 1901 while attending the
Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New
York, President McKinley was again
wearing his favorite scarlet carnation
in his lapel. It was there that he would
give a shy young girl his very last "Lamborn
Red" boutonniere. For as history
records, it was also there just seconds
later that President William McKinley
was shot by an assassin's bullet and
later died.
It wasn't until after President
McKinley's death that the Ohio General
Assembly passed a joint resolution on
February 3, 1904, naming the scarlet
carnation the official Ohio floral
emblem. Fifty-five years later, on April
8, 1959, the Ohio Legislature named
Alliance, Ohio the "Carnation City, for
truly it is the home of Ohio's State
flower.
- Flowers: Generally
terminal to 2-3" across, double,
most colors or where colors don't
exist (green, blue, black) white
flowers are dyed often to create
bicolors (tinted) with different
colored petal edges; most popular
are red, pink, white; strongly
fragrant
- Harvest: When still tight
or barely open, life is related to
sugar (carbohydrate) content which
is highest in midafternoon--best
time to harvest; sensitive to
ethylene which causes
"sleepiness"--failure to open-- so
STS helps; can be stored dry for
several weeks at 31ºF in bud stage
- Foliage: Linear 4-6",
narrow, green to glaucous blue with
waxy covering
- Growth habit: Perennial,
up to 2 feet tall depending on the
strain
- Uses: Probably the most
popular cut flower.
- Production: Cuttings
- Propagation: Propagation
is by cuttings or seed. The seed
germinates in 2 to 3 weeks at 65 to
75 degrees. Carnations are not fully
hardy in northern climates and so
are sometimes treated as annuals
- Cultivars: Many hundreds
are available. Popular standard
series include the Sims and Sidney
Littlefields. Considered by many the
finest ever was the original
'William Sim' named after the Maine
breeder in 1938.
Ohio Revised Code declaring the
carnation our state flower:
5.02 Floral emblem of state
The scarlet carnation is hereby
adopted as the state flower as a
token of love and reverence for the
memory of William McKinley. (1953 H
1, eff. 10-1-53; GC 29)
5.021 State wild flower
The plant Trillium grandiflorum,
commonly known as the large white
trillium, found in every Ohio
county, is hereby adopted as the
state wild flower. (1986 H 763, eff.
3-5-87)
Taxonomic Hierarchy
|
Kingdom |
Plantae -- Plants |
Subkingdom |
Tracheobionta --
Vascular plants |
Superdivision |
Spermatophyta – Seed
plants |
Division |
Magnoliophyta –
Flowering plants |
Class |
Magnoliopsida –
Dicotyledons |
Subclass |
Caryophyllidae – |
Order |
Caryophyllales – |
Family |
Caryophyllaceae – Pink
family |
Genus |
Dianthus L. –
pink |
Species |
Dianthus caryophyllus
L. – carnation |
|