Brompton stock

Description

Matthiola incana is a species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. Common names include Brompton stock, common stock, hoary stock, ten-week stock, and gilly-flower. The common name stock usually refers to this species, though it may also be applied to the whole genus Matthiola. The common name "night-scented stock" or "evening-scented stock" is applied to Matthiola longipetala. Matthiola incana is a common garden flower, available in a variety of colours, many of which are heavily scented and also used in floristry. Some stocks are grown as annuals (the "ten-week stocks") that reach heights of growth of 20 to 28 centimeters thick, woody at the base and with numerous foliar scars and branches with terminal rosettes of leaves. The plants are starry, with whitish hairs. The leaves are rounded and ash-coloured. The fragrant flowers are white, cream yellow, pink, red, purple or blue. The scar flaps on the back are swollen. The pods are compressed, their flaps are flattened. Leaves whole or slightly sinuate, lanceolate, attenuated on a short petiole. Pedicels are 10–12 mm in anthesis, 12–17 mm in fruiting, erect-patents. Sepals are around 11–14 mm, with narrow scarious margin, subtle, green or somewhat purple. Petals are 25–30 mm, with a nail almost as long as the limb, ranging between white, pink, violet or purple. Seeds are 2–3 mm, suborbicular, with a whitish wing. The flower is supported by a 10–20 mm stalk. It is native to southern Europe, from the Balearics to the former Yugoslavia, and is naturalized in the western part of the Mediterranean region, roughly in the same area as the olive tree. The plant prefers calcareous soils, and often grows on cliffs overlooking the sea, or on old walls. It is a plant of the coast, but it can be found, naturalized, even in the hinterland up to 600 m (2,000 ft) of altitude. Matthiola incana is widely used as an ornamental plant for summer bedding, and as a cut flower and aromatic plant. The species has been in cultivation since at least the 16th century. The flowers can be simple or double, medium or large.