Saponaria officinalis |
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bouncing-bet, bouncing-bet soapwort, bouncing-bett, common soapwort, saponaire officinale, soapwort, sweet william |
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Habit | Plants perennial, colonial. |
Stems | erect, simple or branched distally, 30–90 cm. |
Leaves | petiole often absent or winged, 0.1–1.5 cm; blade strongly 3(–5)-veined, elliptic to oblanceolate or ovate, 3–11(–15) × 1.5–4.5 cm. |
Pedicels | 1–5 mm. |
Flowers | sometimes double; calyx green or reddish, often cleft, 15–25 mm, glabrous or rarely with scattered trichomes; petals pink to white, often drying to dull purple, blade 8–15 mm. |
Capsules | ca. 15–20 mm. |
Seeds | 1.6–2 mm wide. |
Cymes | dense to open. |
2n | = 28. |
Saponaria officinalis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Waste places, streamsides, fields, roadsides |
Elevation | 0-2600 m [0-8500 ft] |
Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Eurasia [Introduced in North America; introduced in Mexico, South America, Asia (India), Africa (Egypt), Australia]
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Discussion | Saponaria officinalis, long cultivated for its showy flowers, is a widely naturalized, sometimes troublesome weed. It may persist for years about abandoned home sites. “Double”-flowered horticultural forms, which may lack functional stamens, also occur in the wild, where locally they may be as common as, or even more common than, “single”-flowered forms. In former times, the leaves of this species were gathered and either soaked or boiled in water, the resulting liquid being used for washing as a liquid soap. Because of its saponin content, the species can be poisonous upon ingestion, in much the same manner as Agrostemma githago. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 157. |
Parent taxa | |
Sibling taxa | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 408. (1753) |
Web links |
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