Deptford Pink

Day 278: Let's talk about a couple of plain-English terms which many people find confusing. First off, when speaking of a plant as being "native" to an area, we mean that it has been there since...well, since it was first recorded by a human being. We have no way of knowing its prior history, although the advent DNA sampling has given us a few glimpses, but indigenous lore will tell us if it had any medicinal, culinary or spiritual significance even before the first botanist arrived to put a name on it.

On the other end of the scale, we have "invasive." Invasives are those plants which are not native to an area, and that have the capacity for establishing themselves at a sacrifice of native species. These are the "bad boys," and they come in various levels of virulence. Some are capable of becoming monocultures, crowding out anything else which might grow in a particular area, like the Phragmites which is invading many of our wetlands and waterways.

Now we have come to "naturalized," those plants which we know for certain did not occur in a region prior to a determinable (if broad) point in time, having been brought to an area deliberately or accidentally, and posing no threat to native species. One such plant is the delicate Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria). It may have been brought to America by Europeans who wanted to retain a link with their home country's wildflowers, or it may have followed them as a seed caught on fabric or in hair, in animal fodder, or other means of inadvertent transport. It does not proliferate to a point which threatens native plants, does not draw pollinators away from the business they should be conducting; it is as innocuous as the student who sits in the back row studying, never raising a hand or participating in classroom discussions.

The Barren Wasteland holds quite a population of Deptford Pinks thanks to their inclusion in a packet of "native" wildflower seed (read the first paragraph again, please). I say, the more the merrier. The stems are tall and wiry, and the leaves are sparse and unassuming, almost invisible against the background of more aggressive plants. I don't notice it growing until one day, a flush of speckled pink eyes open. "Deptford! There you are!" It's always nice to see them again.