[Wikipedia] Native to central and eastern Europe. Noxious weed in California: Gypsophila paniculata, the baby's breath, common gypsophila or panicled baby's-breath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, native to central and eastern Europe. It is an herbaceous perennial growing to 1.2 m (4 ft) tall and wide, with mounds of branching stems covered in clouds of tiny white flowers in summer (hence the common name "baby's breath").[1] Another possible source of this name is it scent, which has been described as sour milk, like a baby ?spit up?.[2] [3] [4] Its natural habitat is on the Steppes in dry, sandy and stony places, often on calcareous soils (gypsophila = "chalk-loving"). Specimens of this plant were first sent to Linnaeus from St. Petersburg by the Swiss-Russian botanist Johann Amman. Gypsophila paniculata is now widely distributed in North America.[9] It is classed as an invasive species in places around the Great Lakes, such as the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore[10] and the Chicago region,[11] in the Pacific Northwest,[12] and California where it is a declared Noxious weed.[8] (link added by Mary Ann Machi)