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Matthiola longipetala

species of plant

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ937724 ↗
Source-derived summary

Matthiola longipetala, known as night-scented stock or evening stock (syns Cheiranthus longipetalus, Matthiola bicornis, Matthiola longipetala subsp. bicornis, and Matthiola oxyceras), is a species of ornamental plant.

Description

A member of the genus Matthiola native to Eurasia which emits a pleasant scent in the evening and through the night. It has four-petaled purple to white flowers, which are approximately 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) wide. The plant is low-growing and highly branched in form, normally growing to about 45 cm (18 in) in length. During the heat of the day, the flowers appear wilted.

Cultivation

This species is primarily grown for the evening scent. It is cold-resistant and grown throughout North America, even doing well into hardiness zone 1 . This hardy annual prefers cool conditions in full sun and may not do well at high temperatures. It is best to plant thickly in clumps if a bushy appearance is desired.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Matthiola longipetala” as species of plant. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current 150-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Matthiola, longipetala and species can be independently traced.
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Why this record matters

The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of plant. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q937724. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Matthiola longipetala” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.