Botanical Family · Caryophyllales

Caryophyllaceae

Pink Family

11 speciesOrder Caryophyllales8+ well-known plants

The Caryophyllaceae family (Pink Family) is a botanical family placed in the order Caryophyllales. In the SASYA catalogue it spans 11 species across 7 genera. Its members are predominantly herbs. Well-represented genera include Dianthus, Polycarpaea and Arenaria. Several members are valued in traditional medicine. Familiar examples include Thyme-Leaved Sandwort, Sticky Mouse-Ear Chickweed and Sweet-William.

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Representative specimen · Caryophyllaceae

Key pattern

Opposite leaves on herbs with characteristically swollen stem nodes; regular flowers have petals often notched or deeply cleft at the tip, sitting above an unusual free-central placentation where seeds attach to a column rising from the ovary's base rather than to its walls.

The swollen, knee-like nodes and notched petals are reliable field marks across the family, which includes both garden pinks and carnations and common lawn weeds like chickweed.

Identify the species

Which Caryophyllaceae species is this?

Answer what you can see and narrow it down to a single Caryophyllaceae species.

Click a node to trace its path · pinch or scroll to zoom · drag to pan

Flower ColorWhat color are the flowers?

Pink

White

Yellow

Family identification method

To check whether a plant belongs to Caryophyllaceae, compare the leaf arrangement, leaf type, flower symmetry, fruit type, and one distinctive marker together. A single feature can mislead; the family pattern is the combination.

Learn the full family-identification method