Saponaria officinalis, Sopewort. 



SAPONARIA Linn. Gen. PL Decandria Digynia. 



Cal. i-phyllus, imdus. Petala 5, unguiculata. Caps, oblonga, i-locularis. 



Rait Syn. Herb,e pentapetal^ vasculifer^e. 



SAPONARIA officinalis, calycibus cylindricis foliis ovato-lanceolatis. Lin. Syfl. Ve&etab. p. 347. 

 Spec. PL 584. ' ' ' 



SAPONARIA foliis ovato-lanceolatis, trinerviis; floribus tubulofis, umbellatis. Haller hijl. helv.'n. 980. 

 LYCHNIS officinalis. Scopoli. FL Carniol. p. 303. ^510* 

 SAPONARIA major laevis. Bauhin. pin. 206. 

 SAPONARIA Ger. emac. 444. 

 SAPONARIA vulgaris. Parklnfon. 641. 



LYCHNIS Saponaria dicta. Rail Syn. p. ^<). Common Sopewort. Hudfon FL Angl. p. 339. Oeder. 

 FL Dan. Icon. 543. 



RADIX perennis, cortice rubente tecta, profunde de- ¥ ROOT perennial, covered with a reddifh coloured bark, 



fcendens, lateque reptans, gemmis vivacibus. | ftriking deep into the ground, . and fpreading 



inftrucla, hinc tritici repentis semulus, ex % wide, furnifhed with living buds, whence, 



hortis difficillime extirpatur. | like Couch-Grafs, it is wich the greatefl 



y difficulty rooted out of gardens. 



CAtJLES pedales et ultra, erecti, rigidi, teretes, fub- ? STALKS a foot or more in height, upright, rigid, 



rubenteSj geniculati, fuperne ramofi, ramis f round, of a reddifh colour, jointed, at top 



oppofitis. % branched, the branches oppofite. 



FOLIA ovato-lanceolato, connata, brachiatim oppofita, | LEAVES of an oval pointed fhape, connate, alternate- 



glabra, trinervia, patentia.' y ly oppofite, fmooth, with three ribs, and 



I fpreading. 



FLORES terminales, fubumbellati, carnei. | FLOWERS terminal, forming a kind of umbell, flefh 



% coloured. 



CALYX: Perianthium monopyllum, tubulofum, | CALYX: a PeriAnthium of one leaf, tubular, 



bali intropreffum, fcabriufculum, oblongum, ^ prefled in at the bafe, roughifh, oblong, with 



quinquedentatum, Jig. 1. | five teeth, fig. 1. 



COROLLA: Petala quinque; ungues angufti, angu- | COROLLA: five Petals, the claws narrow, angu- 



lati, calyce paulo longiores, fig. 3, 4; llmbus % lar, a little longer than the Calyx, fig, 3, 4; 



planus, obcordatus, bafi bidentatus, fig. 3. | the limb flat, inverfely heart-fhaped, furnifhed 



I at bottom with two little teeth, fig. 3. 



STAMINA: Filament a decern, fubulata, longitudine % STAMINA: ten Filaments, tapering, the length 



tubi corollas, alterna unguibus petalorum in- | of the tube of the Corolla ; the alternate ones 



ferta : Anthers oblongas, pallida, fig. 5. % inferted into the claws of the petals : Anthe- 



| rje oblong, of a pale colour, fig. 5. 



PISTILLUM: Germen oblongum, 'teretiufculum, | PISTILLUM : Germen oblong, roundifh, tranverfly 



tranfverfe rugofum, viride : Styli duo, fu- % wrinkled, and green: Styles two, taper- 



bulati, albi: Stigmata fimplicia, &>-. 6, 7, 8. I ing, and white; Stigmata fimple, fig. 6, 



. I 7* 8. 

 PERICARPIUM: Capsula oblonga, unilocularis, | SEED-VESSEL: an oblong Capsule of one cavity, 

 longitudine calycis, ventricofa, calyce tecta, % the length of the Calyx, bellying out, cover- 

 ore quadridentato, fig. 9. t ed with the Calyx ; the mouth having four 



I teeth, fig. 9. 



SEMINA plurima, nigricantia, reniformia, fuperficie f SEEDS numerous, blackifh, kidney fhaped, the fur- 



granulata, fig. 10, 11. * face granulated, fig. 10, 11. 



The name of Sopewort has been given to this plant, from its anfwering in a considerable degree, the purpofes of 

 foap, forming like it, a lather with water, and taking out fpots of greafe, &c. from cloth in the fame manner ; 

 whence it has alfo been called the Fullers-herb. 



Some botanifts are ready to doubt whether this herb be a native of Great Britain ; but the teftimonies of 

 Gerard and Ray, appear fufficient to confirm it as fuch. Being often cultivated in gardens, on account of its 

 beauty, it is no doubt often found among the refufie of gardens ; and the plants which we have here and there 

 met with in a few places about town, may probably have been of this kind. 



It is faid naturally to grow in moifr. fituations ; and flowers during the months of July, Auguft and September. 



There are feveral varieties of it cultivated in the gardens, from the perfectly white to the deep purple blolfom'd, both 

 fingle and double ; as alfo that fingular variety the Saponaria concava anglica of Bauhine and Morison, in which 

 the leaves furround the ftalk, and the bloflbm becomes monopetalous, but generally fplit, and deftitute of the other 

 parts of the fructification ; found originally by Gerard, in a fmall grove of a wood called the Splney, near Lich- 

 barrow, in North amptonfinre ; where, according to the teftimony of Morton, hlfl. nat. agr. North, it is no longer 

 to be found ; and which variety appears more like a lufus nature, as Ray confiders it, than a mule plant, produ- 

 ced betwixt a Gentian and the Sopewort, as Linnjeus firft fuggefted. 



All thefe varieties are eafily cultivated : indeed much care is required, that they do not fpread too much 

 in the garden. 



A decoction of the dried herb, does not form a lather fo well as that of the frefh herb. A decoction of the dried 

 root, makes a lather exactly like a folution of foap, but not fo flippery ; Berg. Mat. Med. 



Greafe and dirt were warned out with it, but not ftains ; Idem. 



The root tafted not bitter, but fvveet ; afterwards warm and biting in the throat ; Rutty Mat. Med. 



The tafte of the leaves bitter, mucilaginous, nightly auftere, and acrid, and if chewed long, quite acrid : the 

 decoction alfo bitter, and auftere ; but not changed by vitriol of iron ; idem. 



The watery infufion of the dried herb, fuddenly became of a blackifh green colour, by die addition of vitriol of 

 iron ; but not the infufion of the root ; Bergius. 



In baths and lotions, it has been made ufe of to cleanfe and beautify the fkin ; Idem. 



Internally the decoction of the whole herb is fudorific, and promotes the menfes ; idem. 



If the decoction be very ftrong, it proves purgative ; idem, ex Mangeto. 



The leaves and root are made ufe of in the aflhma : half a dram of the root taken with honey, promotes 

 expectoration ; Idem. 



In the jaundice, chronic difeafes, and obftrucYions of the vifcera, it has been recommended by Boerhave ; 

 Haller hijl. helv. 



By others it has been recommended in venereal and fcrophulous*difeafes, particularly in the former by Stahl, 

 who deemed it fuperior to Sarfaparilla ; Newman s Chem. by Lewis» 



