Vaccaria hispanica
cow soapwort, cow-basil, cow-cockle, cowherb, saponaire des vaches, Spanish cockle
20–100 cm.
blades 2–10 cm, base cuneate to cordate.
(5–)10–30(–55) mm.
calyx 9–17 mm, with 5 prominent, usually green, winged angles or ridges, each ridge with strong, cordlike marginal vein;
petals with claw 8–14 mm, blade 3–8 mm.
included in calyx tube.
2–2.5 mm wide.
open, 16–50(–100)-flowered.
= 30.
Vaccaria hispanica
If the genus Vaccaria is treated as monotypic, V. hispanica then includes four subspecies, and our material is subsp. hispanica. Vaccaria hispanica still occasionally is included in Saponaria (e.g., F. Swink and G. S. Wilhelm 1994). Once a common weed of grain fields (like Agrostemma githago), it is now increasingly rare or has been extirpated in many localities; the distribution stated above may be the historical maximum, rather than current, North American distribution. The saponin-containing seeds of this species are poisonous upon ingestion.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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