Dianthus caryophyllus

For the most part, carnations express love, fascination, and distinction, though there are many variations dependent on color.

• Along with the red rose, the red carnation can be used as a symbol of socialism and the labour movement, and historically has often been used in demonstrations on International Workers' Day (May Day).
• In China, the carnation flower is the most frequently used flower in weddings.[13]
• In Portugal, bright red carnations were used when in 1974 the authoritarian Estado Novo regime was overthrown; therefore, this transition (brought about by a combination of a coup d'état with civil resistance) is known as the Carnation Revolution.
• Light red carnations represent admiration, while dark red denote deep love and affection.
• White carnations represent pure love and good luck, while striped (variegated) carnations symbolise regret that a love cannot be shared.
• White carnations, in the Netherlands are associated with Prince Bernhard. He wore one during World War II and in a gesture of defiance some of the Dutch population took up this gesture. After the war the white carnation became a sign of the Prince, veterans and remembrance of the resistance.
• Purple carnations indicate capriciousness. In France, it is a traditional funeral flower, given in condolence for the death of a loved one.
• According to a Christian legend, carnations first appeared on Earth as Jesus carried the Cross. The Virgin Mary shed tears at Jesus' plight, and carnations sprang up from where her tears fell. Thus the pink carnation became the symbol of a mother's undying love.[14][15]
• Carnation is the birth flower for those born in the month of January.[16]
• Since Ottoman times, red carnations and tulips are used in the interior wall paintings of mosques in Turkey. It is often said that while tulips represent God, carnations is the symbol for Muhammad. However these flower designs are not unique to mosques but also used in many other Ottoman traditional art forms.

The formal name for carnation, dianthus, comes from Greek for "heavenly flower",[17] or the flower of Jove.[18]

Mural commemorating the Portuguese Carnation Revolution

Carnations are often worn on special occasions, especially Mother's Day and weddings. In 1907, Anna Jarvis chose a carnation as the emblem of Mother's Day because it was her mother's favourite flower.[19] This tradition is now observed in the United States and Canada on the second Sunday in May. Ann Jarvis chose the white carnation because she wanted to represent the purity of a mother's love.[20][21] This meaning has evolved over time, and now a red carnation may be worn if one's mother is alive, and a white one if she has died.[22]

In Korea, carnations express admiration, love and gratitude. Red and pink carnations are worn on Parents Day (Korea does not separate Mother's Day or Father's Day, but has Parents Day on 8 May). Sometimes, parents wear a corsage of carnation(s) on their left chest on Parents Day. Carnations are also worn on Teachers Day (15 May).[23]

Red carnations are worn on May Day as a symbol of socialism and the labour movement in some countries, such as Austria, Italy,[24] and successor countries of the former Yugoslavia. The red carnation is also the symbol of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal.

Green carnations are for St. Patrick's Day and were famously worn by the Irish writer Oscar Wilde. The green carnation thence became a symbol of homosexuality in the early 20th century, especially through the book The Green Carnation and Noël Coward's song, "We All Wear a Green Carnation" in his operetta, Bitter Sweet.

In communist Czechoslovakia and in Poland in times of the People's Republic of Poland, carnations were traditionally given to women on the widely celebrated Women's Day, together with commodities that were difficult to obtain due to the countries' communist system, such as tights, towels, soap and coffee.

After the 1990 uprisings against Soviets in Azerbaijan in which 147 Azerbaijani civilians were killed, 800 people were injured and five people went missing,[25] the carnation has become a symbol of the Black January tragedy associated with the carnations thrown into the puddles of blood shed in the streets of Azerbaijan subsequent to the massacre.[26]

At the University of Oxford, carnations are traditionally worn to all examinations; white for the first exam, pink for exams in between, and red for the last exam. One story explaining this tradition relates that initially a white carnation was kept in a red inkpot between exams, so by the last exam it was fully red; the story is thought to originate in the late 1990s.[27]

Carnations painted by Pierre-Joseph Redouté

Carnations are the traditional first wedding anniversary flower.[28]

The carnation is the national flower of Spain, Monaco, and Slovenia, and the provincial flower of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The state flower of Ohio is a scarlet carnation, which was introduced to the state by Levi L. Lamborn. The choice was made to honor William McKinley, Ohio Governor and U.S. President, who was assassinated in 1901, and regularly wore a scarlet carnation on his lapel.[29]

The transgenic cultivar 'Moondust'

Carnations do not naturally produce the pigment delphinidin, thus a blue carnation cannot occur by natural selection or be created by traditional plant breeding. It shares this characteristic with other widely sold flowers like roses, lilies, tulips, chrysanthemums and gerberas.

Around 1996 a company, Florigene, used genetic engineering to extract certain genes from petunia and snapdragon flowers to produce a blue-mauve carnation, which was commercialized as Moondust. In 1998 a violet carnation called Moonshadow was commercialized.[30] As of 2004 three additional blue-violet/purple varieties have been commercialized.[31]