Saponaria officinalis

Common Name(s):

Soapwort, bouncing-bet

Categories:

Herbs, Perennials, Poisonous Plants, Wildflowers

Comment:

Soapwort is also called "Bouncing Bet" and "Lady by the garden gate"; plants are seen by the roadside and are considered weedy by some; under cultivation it is an upright pretty perennial with pink, rose or white clusters of flowers; soapworts get their name because they contain saponins in the plant sap which lathers when used for washing; native of Europe that has naturalized

Description:

Herbaceous perennial, erect; leaves opposite, simple, smooth margined, palmately veined; flowers in a terminal cluster, with tubular calyx, 5-parted, white or pinkish; fruit a capsule

Season:

Summer

Height:

1-2 ft.

Flower Color:

pink, white, red

Hardiness:

USDA Hardiness Zone 2-8

Foliage:

2 to 3 in. pairs of broadly lance-shaped leaves that have three to five ribs

Flower:

Pale pink to whitish flowers in dense terminal cluster; five petals

Site:

Moist but well-drained soil; sun; found along roadsides, waste places, railroad tracks

Propagation:

division of stolons spring or fall, seed, cuttings

Exposure:

full sun

Soil:

moist, well drained soil

Regions:

Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plain

Family:

Caryophyllaceae

Origin:

Europe

Distribution:

Cultivated and naturalized

Poison Part:

Roots and seeds.

Poison Delivery Mode:

Ingestion

Symptoms:

Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea

Toxic Principle:

Saponic glycoside

Severity:

CAUSES ONLY LOW TOXICITY IF EATEN

Found in:

Forest or natural areas; weedy in disturbed areas in gardens, fields, waste places, meadows; landscape in flower gardens as herb

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Tags:

pink, polliators, sun, summer, perennial, herb, wildflower, poisonous, hummingbirds, red, white

NCCES plant id: 777