5; see text Matthiola incana is a species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae.

[3] Matthiola incana is a common garden flower, available in a variety of colours, many of which are heavily scented and also used in floristry.

Petals are 25–30 mm (0.98–1.18 in), with a nail almost as long as the limb, ranging between white, pink, violet or purple.

[4] It is native to southern Europe from Spain to Greece,[1] and is naturalized in the western part of the Mediterranean region, roughly in the same area as the olive tree.

[6] These varieties are sown in spring (generally from March onwards in colder areas of the Northern Hemisphere, earlier in regions with mild winters).

In cool temperate regions they are generally sown in summer (June and July) to flower in the following spring.

[7] Intermediate varieties (sometimes called "East Lothian" stocks as they originated in southern Scotland) may be treated either as annuals or biennials.

Selection over the centuries has greatly improved these ratios, resulting in the so-called "ever-sporting" stocks, in which pure-breeding singles are absent and the proportion of doubles is one half or greater.

This is due to generations of selection for further linked viability effects, producing higher mortality of heterozygous singles, relative to homozygous doubles.