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 
