PINK WILD FLOWERS 



glowing mass which may be seen for quite a 

 distance. The deep, narrow, tubular calyx is covered 

 with very fine, sticky hairs. The five flaring, 

 rose-pink petals are wedge-shaped, with notched 

 tips. They taper into narrow, pointed claws which 

 sit within the calyx. The flower has ten stamens and 

 a pistil. This species is found from April to June 

 in dry, sandy, gravelly, or rocky soil, and ranges 

 from Maine to Georgia and Kentucky. 



SOAPWORT. BOUNCING BET. HEDGE PINK. 



BRUISEWORT. FULLER'S HERB. OLD 



MAID'S PINK. SHEEPWEED 



Saponaria officinalis. Pink Family. 



Just why this naturalized European adventurer, 

 which long ago escaped from the Colonial gardens, 

 should be called Bouncing Bet, is not at all clear. 

 Perhaps its wandering nature, cropping up here and 

 there in waste places as it does, coupled with its comely, 

 honest, wholesome, calico-and-gingham, look-you- 

 straight-in-the-eye appearance as it stands and stares, 

 or as it bobs about with the wind, gives some idea 

 of how it happened. However, "a rose by any other 

 name would smell as sweet," and so the beautiful, 

 clustered flowers of the rough-and-ready Soapwort 

 will continue to delight us from July to September, 

 along dusty roadsides, edges and corners of neglected 

 fields and farmyards and railroad banks, where it grows 

 luxuriantly, and often grouped in great patches. It is 

 everywhere common, and increases by means of under- 



38 



