In the Pink

by Chris Firestone

National Pink Day is celebrated annually on June 23. Pink is a color, a pop singer, an animated panther, light colored trousers formerly worn by army officers, and a ship with a narrow, overhanging stern. As a verb it means to cut a sawtooth edge, to stab, or to wound by criticism, irony, or ridicule. Of course, I can’t forget to mention the English rock band Pink Floyd.

Throughout history, pink has represented many advocacy groups, like pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness and pink triangles for LGBTQ+ rights and activism. Pink is now more commonly associated with femininity, but up until the mid-20^th century, it was masculine to wear pink.

Pink, as a term, originated from the Dutch in the 17^th century and is based on a group of Old-World flowers in the family Caryophyllaceae and the Dianthus genus. Flowers in this family and genus are carnations and pinks, respectively. In Pennsylvania, a weedy, non-native species called Deptford pink (Dianthus armeria), is common in every county. No native species of Dianthus exists in Pennsylvania.

Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria)

In the Caryophyllaceae family, other genera such as Silene do have native species with pink in the common name, such as northern wild pink (Silene caroliniana) and the red flowered fire pink (Silene virginica).

Despite having no native species of Dianthus in Pennsylvania, we certainly have a great diversity of native pink colored flowers in our woods, wetlands, and fields. Pink is not a common color in nature, but in flowers, pink is very successful in attracting pollinators. Perhaps that is why there are so many species of plants with pink flowers.

Please enjoy the many hues of pink in this photo collage.