WorldFloraDB - Saponaria

Characteristics

Herbs, [annual, biennial, or] perennial. Rhizomes stout or slender. Stems erect to spreading, simple or branched, terete. Leaves connate proximally, petiolate or sessile; blade 3(-5)-veined, spatulate to elliptic or ovate, apex acute or rounded. Inflorescences terminal, dense to open, lax cymes; bracts paired, foliaceous; involucel bracteoles absent. Pedicels erect. Flowers: sepals connate proximally into tube, greenish, reddish, or purple, 7-25 mm, tube 15-25-veined, oblong-cylindric, terete, commissures between sepals absent; lobes green, reddish, or purple, 3-5-veined, triangular-attenuate, shorter than tube, margins white, scarious, apex acute or acuminate; petals 5 (doubled in some cultivars), pink to white, clawed, auricles absent, with 2 coronal scales, blade apex entire or emarginate; nectaries at filament bases; stamens 10, adnate with petals to carpophore; filaments briefly connate proximally; staminodes absent (present in some cultivars); ovary 1-locular; styles 2(-3), filiform, 12-15 mm, glabrous proximally; stigmas 2(-3), linear along adaxial surface of styles, papillate (30×). Capsules cylindric to ovoid, opening by 4(-6) ascending or recurving teeth; carpophore present. Seeds 15-75, dark brown, reniform, laterally compressed, papillose, marginal wing absent, appendage absent; embryo peripheral, curved. x = 7.

More

Herbs, annual or perennial, erect, glabrous or hairy. Leaves opposite, narrowly spathulate to linear-oblanceolate or oblong-ovate; bracts herbaceous; stipules absent. Flowers in paniculate to capitate, dichasial cymes, 5-merous, bisexual. Epicalyx absent. Calyx tubular, cylindrical, 15–25-veined, not scarious between veins, herbaceous, 5-lobed. Petals 5, white, yellow, pink or purple, exceeding calyx; coronal scales present. Stamens 10. Ovary 1-celled; styles 2 (3). Capsule cylindrical to ovoid, opening by 4 (6), teeth; carpophore short. Seeds few to many, reniform, ±compressed, bluntly tuberculate, with a lateral hilum.

Annual to perennial herbs. Hairs glandular and/or eglandular or 0. Lvs opposite, exstipulate, ovate to linear to spathulate. Infl. a lax to capitate dichasium, sometimes a panicle; bracts leaflike; epicalyx 0. Calyx cylindric or oblong, 5-veined, 5-toothed, with green commissures between the veins. Petals 5, white or pink, clawed or narrowed to base, entire to 2-fid; coronal scales usually present. Stamens 10. Styles 2. Fr. a cylindric to ovoid capsule dehiscing by 4 teeth; carpophore short. Seeds reniform, compressed, not winged.

Herbs annual or perennial. Stem solitary, erect. Leaves lanceolate, elliptic or spatulate, 3-or 5-veined. Inflorescence a cyme, panicle, or capitulum. Calyx cylindric, 15-to 25-veined, not membranous between veins, 5-toothed. Petals 5, red or white, margin entire, emarginate, or 2-lobed; claw long, narrow; coronal scales usually present. Stamens 10. Ovary 1-loculed; styles 2. Androgynophore short. Capsule cylindric or ovoid, crustaceous, dehiscing with 4 teeth. Seeds reniform, tuberculate or striate; embryo annular.

Annual, biennial, or mostly perennial herbs, glabrous or hairy. Leaves of varying shape, sessile or petiolate. Inflorescences cymose, capitate or paniculate. Calyx cylindrical, many-nerved. Bracts herbaceous, bracteoles absent. Calyx cylindrical, 5-dentate. Petals with winged claw, lamina with or without coronal scales. Stamens 10. Ovary with many (rarely few) ovules. Styles 2 (or 3). Capsule dehiscing by 4(-6) short valves or teeth. Seeds reniform, flat, tuberculate.

Infl ± congested or of open cymes; cal cylindric, membranous, 20-nerved; pet with distinct claw and blade, the appendages conspicuous, subulate; stamens 10; styles 2(3); capsule dehiscent by 4(–6) teeth; seeds rotund-reniform, uniformly reticulate; perennial herbs. 30, temp. Eurasia.

Life form
Growth form	herb
Growth support	-
Foliage retention	-
Sexuality	hermaphrodite
Pollination	-
Spread	-
Mature width (meter)	-
Mature height (meter)	-
Root system	rhizome
Rooting depth (meter)	-
Root diameter (meter)	-
Flower color
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Nitrogen fixer	-
Photosynthetic pathway	-

Environment

Light	-
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Hardiness (USDA)

Usage

Saponaria officinalis L. (Common Soapwort, Bouncing Bet, Cow Soap, Wild Sweet William) contains saponin (a vegetable glycoside that acts as an emulsifier) and the roots, leaves and flowers of the plant have been used to make soap which is particularly useful as a gentle cleansing agent for delicate textiles and fabrics. It is also grown as an ornamental, e.g. S. officinalis 'Flore Pleno' for its fragrant pink flowers. Despite toxic properties, medicinal and culinary uses are also sometimes cited.

Uses	medicinal ornamental
Edible	-
Therapeutic use	-
Human toxicity	-
Animal toxicity	-

Cultivation

Mode	-
Germination duration (days)	10 - 21
Germination temperacture (C°)	21
Germination luminosity	light
Germination treatment	stratification
Minimum temperature (C°)	-
Optimum temperature (C°)	-
Size	-
Vigor	-
Productivity	-