BOUNCING BET 



BOUNCING BET. LADY BETTY 



Saponaris officinalis. 



Saponaria, soapwort; because the mucilaginous juices of stem and 

 root will make a lather in water. 



An escape from early gardens now found by roadsides, railroad 

 tracks, and in neglected fields throughout the North as far as the 

 foot-hills of the Rockies; spreads by underground stolons. Central 

 Europe. June, until snow falls. 



Stem. — One to two feet high, glabrous, swollen at the joints. 

 Leaves. — Opposite, ovate, entire, acute. 

 Flowers. — Clustered, rose, pale-pink, single or double. 

 Calyx. — Cylindrical, five-toothed; readily cutting down at one side. 

 Petals. — Five or more, long-clawed, border spreading, with small 

 crown, pink. 

 Stamens. — Ten. 

 Ovary. — Slender, oblong; styles two, long, coiled at apex; seeds many. 



Curiously enough there is a 

 small group of plants that are 

 united not by botanical affilia- 

 tions but by social status. Two 

 well-known members of this out- 

 lawed group are Saponaria offici- 

 nalis, commonly known as 

 Bouncing Bet, and Linaria vul- 

 garis, Common Toadflax. Both, 

 originally of the garden, are to- 

 day outcasts; both in their prim- 

 itive forms bear flowers of great 

 beauty. It is clear that their 

 vitality has wrought their social 

 ruin. In a way the garden enclosure spells aristocratic seclusion, 

 and when these two became rampant democrats, if not anarchists, 

 when it was discovered that no fence could limit their activities 

 or check their advance, they were discarded; and now as va- 



139 



Bouncing Bet. Saponaria officinalis 



