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Caryophyllaceae family

Boreal Carnation Dianthus repens

Native

Boreal Carnation is a perennial wildflower native to Alaska and Canada. It grows to 0.4 ft.

More about this plant

Dianthus repens, common names boreal carnation and northern pink, is a plant species native to the Nei Mongol region of China, as well as to Siberia, the Russian Far East, northern parts of European Russia, Alaska and Yukon Territory. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0) — Height
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Height
0.4 ft
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Ground-cover layer — Sits in the ground-cover of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
Living mulch / groundcover — Low, ground-hugging grower — can carpet bare soil as a living mulch, shading out weeds and holding moisture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~10 caterpillar species

Dianthus supports ~10 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a moderate genus for introduced plants — native genera typically support far more.

Recorded feeding on Dianthus in North America, including:

Argyrotaenia citrana · leafroller moth Cacoecimorpha pronubana · Carnation Tortix Chlorochlamys chloroleucaria · geometer (inchworm) moth Choristoneura rosaceana · Oblique-Banded Leafroller Hadena capsularis · owlet moth Helicoverpa zea · Corn Earworm
+ 8 more species →
Hendecasis duplifascialis · snout moth Noctua pronuba · Large Yellow Underwing Papaipema nebris · Stalk Borer Peridroma saucia · Pearly Underwing Platynota flavedana · Black-Shaded Platynota Moth Platynota stultana · Omnivorous Leaf-Roller Pyrrharctia isabella · Isabella Tiger Moth Trichoplusia ni · owlet moth
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (14) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[07] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[08] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[09] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[12] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[13] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
[14] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county
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