A member of the Brassicaceae (mustard) plant family, Matthiola is a genus containing 55 accepted species of plants that are commonly called stock or gillyflower.
The Matthiola genus contains a variety of herbaceous, annual, biennial, and perennial flowering plants and subshrubs. Stock plants grow in upright clusters or clumps.
The genus name, Matthiola, refers to the Italian naturalist Pietro Andrea Mattiolii. The exact origin of the flower’s common name, stock, is not quite clear.
Stock flowers represent a happy life and contentment. In the Victorian language of flowers, stock symbolizes lasting beauty, bonds of affection, and the phrase, “You’ll always be beautiful to me.”