Matthiola W.T.Aiton

Overview

Matthiola belongs to the cabbage family, Brassicaceae; Kew gives its native range as Europe to south-central Siberia and the Himalaya, Macaronesia to Arabia, and north-east tropical and southern Africa. Flora of Somalia gives some 50–60 species, mostly in the eastern Mediterranean and Iranian regions. The florist’s stock is M. incana, which WCVP records as native along the northern Mediterranean, from Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Albania to Lebanon–Syria.

Classification and characters

WCVP cites the second edition of W. T. Aiton’s Hortus Kewensis (1812) as the place of publication. Flora of Tropical East Africa describes annual herbs to subshrubs, more or less branched; petals purplish, violet or dirty white and clearly clawed; the fruit a linear silique, round or flattened, sometimes beaded, without cross-walls; and a nearly stalkless, conical, two-lobed stigma. Flora of Somalia adds that the flowers are large with pink to purple petals.

The plate above, Favourite Flowers plate 22 (1896), shows the ten-week stock, printed Mathiola annua; WCVP places Matthiola annua under M. incana subsp. incana.

Distribution

WCVP records the genus as native to 64 TDWG botanical regions and introduced in 30 more.

Introduced

AlbertaArgentina SouthArizonaAzoresBaltic StatesBermudaBoliviaCaliforniaCaroline Is.Chile NorthColombiaCzechia-SlovakiaEcuadorGermanyIllinoisJuan Fernández Is.Mexico NorthwestMexico SouthwestNew MexicoNorfolk Is.OntarioPeruPrimoryeRomaniaSaskatchewanSouth AustraliaTasmaniaTexasVictoriaWestern Australia

Accepted species

WCVP accepts 54 species; names with × are natural hybrids. The count changes with revisions; checked 2026-10-24.

Historic plates

Plates in date order; the printed names are kept as they appear, current names are on the species pages and the topic page.

• 

  Cheiranthus tristis

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 729 · 1804
  Sydenham Edwards
• 

  Ten-week Stock (Mathiola annua)

  Favourite Flowers of Garden and Greenhouse · Pl. 22 · 1896
  

Cut-flower handling

Floralife says stocks are harvested when about six florets are open; avoid spikes with yellow leaves or discoloured or infected florets. Store at 1–3 °C and 75–85% relative humidity; vase life is 5–10 days, and they do well in foam if hydrated enough. Ethylene sensitivity is medium to high, accelerating senescence and causing water-soaked petals and downward-curling leaves, so treatment with an ethylene action inhibitor or STS is recommended.

Stocks foul the water rapidly and bacteria impede uptake, so change the solution frequently and check levels daily. They have a pleasing clove-like scent. They are susceptible to botrytis and mildew: treat against botrytis before transport and storage and keep buckets and vases clean; they need air around them, as massing them too tightly makes the florets deteriorate. Leaf yellowing comes from poor growing conditions or improper handling in storage and transport.

Further reading

• Flower guide
• Reference library

References

1. WCVP · World Checklist of Vascular Plants (via ChecklistBank dataset 2232) · accessed 2026-10-24
2. Kew (POWO data on the ColPlanta site) · Matthiola, with genus descriptions from Flora of Tropical East Africa and Flora of Somalia
3. Floralife · Stock care and handling