Flora of North America species comparison

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Saponaria ocymoides

rock soapwort, saponaria
Habit Plants perennial, with over-wintering leafy shoots.
Stems

trailing, procumbent, or ascending, much-branched, 5–25 cm.
Leaves

petiole not winged, (0.1–)0.5–1(–3) cm;

blade 1-veined, spatulate to ovate-lanceolate, 0.6–2.5 × 0.3–1.4 cm.
Pedicels

2–6 mm.
Flowers

sometimes double;

calyx usually purple, not cleft, 7–12 mm, glandular-pubescent;

petals red or pink to white, blade 8–15 mm.
Capsules

6–8 mm.
Seeds

1.6–2 mm wide.
Cymes

spreading, lax.
2n

= 28 (Europe).

Saponaria ocymoides
Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Waste sites, rocky places, old gardens
Elevation 0-2200 m (0-7200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; CO; IN; MA; MI; NY; OR; Europe [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Saponaria ocymoides is a long-cultivated rock-garden and wall plant that is only rarely persistent outside of gardens.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 158.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Caryophylloideae > Saponaria
Sibling taxa
S. officinalis
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 409. (1753)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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