康乃馨學名“香石竹”，英語是“carnation” ，試著讀一下看看，是不是覺得中文發音和英語的好像?對啦，中文里的康乃馨就是英語發音的音譯。另外，它也可以被叫做“grenadine”和“clove pink”

為什么母親節要送康乃馨呢?

Carnations have come to represent Mother’s Day, since Anna Jarvis delivered 500 of them at its first celebration in 1908. Many religious services held later copied the custom of giving away carnations. This also started the custom of wearing a carnation on Mother’s Day. The founder, Anna Jarvis, chose the carnation because it was the favorite flower of her mother。

1908年，安娜賈維斯(Anna Jarvis) 送給在西弗吉尼亞州 Grafton Andrews 的循道圣公會教堂500朵白色康乃馨，希望把這些花分送給大家的母親們，自此以后，康乃馨就被用來作為母親節的代表物了。安娜賈維斯之所以選擇康乃馨，是因為這是她母親最喜歡的花。

康乃馨有很多種顏色，分別有什么涵義嗎?

In part due to the shortage of white carnations, and in part due to the efforts to expand the sales of more types of flowers in Mother’s Day, the florists promoted wearing a red carnation if your mother was living, or a white one if she was dead。

一方面因為白色康乃馨數量有限，另一方面為了擴大在母親節有更多品種的花卉出售，花商推薦說如果母親仍健在，就送紅色的康乃馨，而白色的康乃馨則是送給已過世的母親。