442 MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



40 species in Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. Saponaria officinalis is fre- 

 quently cultivated in old gardens. The mucilaginous juice forms a lather with 

 water and is valuable for taking grease spots out of woUen cloth. 



Saponaria Vaccaria L. Cow herb 



A glabrous annual from 1-2 feet high with opposite ovate lanceolate leaves; 

 flowers in corymbed cymes; calyx 5-angled, enlarged and angled in fruit; petals 

 pale red. Cow herb is another important constituent of "cockle" in wheat 

 screenings, and like the preceding weed has been largely spread by means of 

 wheat culture. 



Distribution. Common in Europe ; found in wheat fields of the east and as 

 far west as Missouri, Kansas, the Rocky Mountain region, and Pacific Coast, 

 and wheat regions of the northwest. 



According to Sohn, it contains the substance saponin, C„,Hg^O,. a neutral 

 sharp, amorphous substance, having a burning taste and producing a violent 

 sensation. The toxic substance is partially removed by baking. 



Fig. 218. Boancing Betty 

 (.Saponaria oMcinalis). A 

 branch with flowers. The 

 double flowered form is some- 

 times cultivated for orna- 

 mental purposes. (Charlotte 

 M. King.) 



6. Stellaria h. Chickweed 



Tufted herbs with white flowers in cymose clusters; sepals 4-5, deeply 2- 

 cleft, sometimes none; stamens free, 10 or fewer; styles 3, rarely 4 or S; capsule 

 ovoid 1-celled, several to many seeded. 



Stellaria media (I,.) Cyrill. Common Chickweed 



A nearly smooth annual or winter annual, decumbent or ascending; leaves 

 ovate or oval, the lower on hairy petioles; flowers white in terminal leafy 

 cymes or solitary in the axils; sepals oblong, longer than the 2-parted petals; 

 stamens 2-10. 



