description
Saponaria officinalis is a common perennial plant from the carnation
family Caryophyllaceae.
Soapwort, as it is commonly called, has leafy, unbranched stems which are often tinged red.
The plant grows in patches, growing in height to around 70 cm or a little over 2 feet. The broad,
lanceolate, sessile leaves are opposite and between 4 and 12 cm long.
Soapwort's sweetly scented flowers are radially symmetrical and colored pink, or on occasion
white. Each of their five flat petals have two small scales in the throat of
the corolla. The flowers are arranged in dense,
terminal clusters on the main stem and its branches. The long tubular calyx
has five pointed red teeth.
The plant's individual flowers open in the evening, and
remain open for about three days. Saponaria
officinalis blooms from May to September in the northern hemisphere, and
October to March in the southern hemisphere.
common names & nomenclature
The plant's scientific name Saponaria is derived from the Latin sapo (stem sapon-) which means "soap."
This moniker as well as the plant's other various common names, refers to the plant's utility in cleaning.
Also known as:
soapwort, bruise wort, sweet betty, wild sweet william, bouncing bet, fuller’s herb, latherwort, crow soap, common soapwort, soapweed
