150 CARYOPHYLLACEAE (PINK FAMILY) 
Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by rootstocks. 
Time of bloom: July to September. 
Seed-time: Late August to November. 
Range: Throughout eastern North America. 
Habitat: Along roadsides and railways; in old pastures and on 
waste ground. 
In pioneer days, when the art of soap-making had not approached 
its present excellence, housewives knew that fine woolens and silks 
could be well cleansed with a slippery, 
sudsy solution made by bruising the 
mucilaginous stems and leaves or young 
rootstocks of this plant in water. For 
this purpose a patch of it was kept 
handy, and hence its names Soapwort 
and Fuller's Herb. The cylindrical 
roots — not the stolons — are used in 
medicine, and are worth five to ten 
cents a pound in the drug market when 
collected in late autumn or early spring, 
carefully cleansed, and dried. (Fig. 101.) 
Stems in tufts, one to two feet tall, 
stout and smooth, with swollen joints. 
Leaves opposite, long ovate, . three- 
nerved, pointed, rather thick, smooth, 
sessile or with short, broad petioles. 
Flowers pink, usually double, in large, 
Bs Siete ee dense, terminal, corymbose clusters; 
(Saponaria officinalis). x3. Calyx tubular, five-toothed; stamens 
ten; styles two; Ovary one-celled or 
sometimes incompletely two- or four-celled. Capsule oblong, 
conic, opening by four short teeth at apex. Seeds rough, dark 
slate-color or dull black, shortened kidney-shaped; they con- 
tain a poisonous property called saponin, like that which makes 
dangerous the seeds of the related Cow Cockle and Corn Cockle. 
Means of control 
If the patches are small, grubbing out is the best remedy. Caustic 
soda or hot brine is effectual, but the ground will be barren until 
