Parts of a Carnation Flower Diagram

All 14 parts on the diagram

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The stem and flower 6

Flower A single carnation has five petals with toothed edges.
Bud A flower not yet open, still shut inside its calyx.
Stem It is stiff, with a swollen joint wherever leaves grow.
Node A swollen joint. Each one bears a pair of leaves.
Leaf Narrow leaves grow in opposite pairs, joined at the node.
Bracts Short pointed scales that hug the base of the calyx.

Cut lengthwise 8

Calyx tube The sepals, joined into one long tube.
Calyx teeth Five points at the top, one for each sepal.
Petal blade The broad part of a petal, with a toothed edge.
Petal claw The long narrow base of a petal, hidden in the calyx.
Stamen A carnation flower has ten stamens.
Styles Two long styles rise from the top of the ovary.
Ovary It has one chamber and ripens into a dry capsule.
Ovules They sit on a column up the middle and become seeds.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-10-01 and kept only where two of these use it. (1) Britton and Brown, An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, 2nd ed. 1913, vol. 2, the pink family and Dianthus (public domain), https://archive.org/details/illustratedflora02brit : herbs often swollen at the nodes with opposite leaves; calyx 5-toothed, tubular, several-bracted at the base; petals 5, long-clawed, dentate; a scale at the base of the blade; stamens 10; styles 2; ovary 1-celled, the ovules attached to a central column; capsule opening by short teeth. (2) Gray's New Manual of Botany, 7th ed. 1908, the pink family and Dianthus (public domain), https://archive.org/details/graysnewmanualo00gray : opposite leaves, stems swollen at the joints; calyx cylindrical, 5-toothed, subtended by 2 or more bractlets; petals with slender claws; stamens 10; styles 2; seeds on a central column; pod 1-celled. (3) North Carolina State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Dianthus caryophyllus, https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/dianthus-caryophyllus/ : leaves paired and joined at swollen nodes; semi-double to double blooms with ruffled petals, a cylindrical calyx and few bracts; stamens often petal-like. (4) Wikipedia, text only, Dianthus caryophyllus, Dianthus, Caryophyllaceae and Petal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianthus_caryophyllus : five petals with a frilled edge; scale leaves round the calyx a quarter as long as the calyx tube; swollen nodes, opposite leaves; a petal's claw and blade. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-01 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

The first drawing is a carnation stem with one open flower and one bud. The second cuts the flower lengthwise. It is a single garden carnation with five petals; a florist's double carnation packs in many more.

Read the full guide

On the stem

The stem is swollen at each node, and every node bears two narrow leaves, one opposite the other. Under the petals the sepals are joined into a tube, the calyx, with short pointed bracts hugging its base. A bud is a flower still shut inside its calyx.

Inside the flower

Each petal has two parts. The claw is a long narrow strip hidden in the calyx tube; the blade is the broad fringed part that spreads out above the calyx teeth. Ten stamens and two long styles stand in the middle. The ovary at the bottom has one chamber, with its ovules on a central column.

Pull one petal from a real carnation to see the whole claw, which the calyx hides.
The quiz takes epicalyx for bracts and limb for petal blade.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a carnation flower?

From the outside in: short bracts, a calyx tube with five teeth, petals that each have a claw and a fringed blade, ten stamens, and an ovary with two long styles. The ovary holds the ovules.

How many petals does a carnation have?

A single carnation has five. The full, ruffled carnations sold by florists are double flowers with many more petals, and in them the stamens are often petal-like too.

What is the tube under a carnation flower?

The calyx. In a carnation the sepals are joined into one long tube that ends in five teeth. It hides the narrow claws of the petals, and small pointed bracts sit at its base.

Why is a carnation stem knobbly?

The knobs are nodes, the joints where leaves grow. Plants of the pink family, which includes carnations, usually have stems swollen at the nodes, with a pair of opposite leaves at each one.