CAKYOPHYLLACE^. 53 



SPECIES I— SAP ON ARIA OFFICINALIS, Linn. 



Plate CXCVII. 

 Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VI. Caryoph. Tab. CCXLV. Fig. 4995. 



Rootstock creeping. Stems erect. Leaves oval or elliptical, 

 3-nerved. Flowers in small corymbose cymes, united into a panicle. 

 Calyx glabrous. Petals with 2 small scales at the throat. 



On the borders of woods and hedges and by roadsides. Not 

 uncommon ; but probably escaped from cultivation in many local- 

 ities, though apparently native on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall 

 and in North Wales. 



England, [Scotland,] Ireland ?. Perennial. Autumn. 



E/Ootstock thick, white, fleshy, extensively creeping and emitting 

 long stolons and erect flowering stems ; the latter branched in the 

 upper part, from 1-|- to 3 feet high, sometimes decumbent at the 

 base. Leaves 2 to 4 inches long, varying from broadly oval to 

 elliptical, decreasing in size and breadth upwards ; all with 3 nerves, 

 and the lowest sometimes with 2 additional nerves at the base. 

 Plowers 1 inch long by 1 inch across, in a compact terminal 

 corymbose cyme, and other lateral cymes with fewer flowers from 

 the axils of the upper leaves. Calyx tube generally tinged with 

 red, sub-cylinch'ical, umbilicate at the base, with 5 short triangular 

 teeth at the apex, indistinctly ribbed ; becoming fusiform as the 

 capsule increases in size. Petals with the claw 4-angled, longer 

 than the calyx tube ; the laminae wedgeshapcd-obovate, entire or 

 slightly emarginate, not contigu.ous, pale lilac, flesh-coloured, or 

 nearly white. Capsule often abortive, oblong-ovoid, supported upon 

 a short thick gynophore. Seeds roundish-reniform, slightly com- 

 pressed, covered with small points, with the hilum in the middle 

 of the inner margin. Plant quite glabrous ; leaves very slightly 

 glaucous, soapy to the touch. 



The flowers of this species are very often double, which always 

 attaches a suspicion that such plants are of garden origin. A 

 curious variety, or rather monstrosity (S. hybrida, Linn.), has been 

 found in Northamptonshire and on the sand-hills to the North of 

 Liverpool, which has some of the upper leaves connate, and the 

 corolla monopetalous. 



Common Soapioort, BruisewoH, Fuller's Serb. 



French, Saponaire Officinale. German, Gebraucliliclies Seifenkraiit. 



When boiled or bruised in water the leaves of this plant become saponaceous, 

 and were used in ancient times as a substitute for soap ; especially, it is said, by the 

 mendicant friars. The lather so formed has all the effects of soap, and readily removes 

 grease. Not being aflected Ijy acids, it might be usefully employed when the water 

 is hard. The decoction has been employed both in France and Germany as an external 



