STOCK

in finance, the subscribed capital of a corporation or limited-liability company, usually divided into shares and represented by transferable certificates. The certificates may detail the contractual relationship between the company and its stockholders, or shareholders, and set forth the division of the risk, income, and control of the business. in botany, any of about 50 species of plants constituting the genus Matthiola of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to Eurasia and southern Africa and well known for the spicy fragrance of some species. Biennial natives to southwestern Europe and western Asia, stocks, or gillyflowers (M. incana), are known in Great Britain as sea stocks for their frequent growth on seaside cliffs. They produce 60- to 80-centimetre (25- to 30-inch) spikes of lilac to white, four-petaled flowers rising from narrowly oval, deep green leaves. Garden varieties are red, crimson, yellow, and deep purple; some have double flowers. M. sinuata, hardier, shorter, and deeper coloured, also is native to southwestern Europe. Evening, or night-scented, stock (M. longipetala) a low and much-branched annual from southeastern Europe and Asia, produces pink to purple, intensely fragrant flowers that open only at night.