SOPEWORT. 
Saponaria OFFICINALIS. 
SAPONARIA Linn. Gen . PI. Decandria Digynia. 
Cal. i-phyllus, nudus. Petala 5, unguiculata. Caps, oblonga, i-locularis. 
Rail Syn. Herb® pentapetal® vasculifer®. 
SAPONARIA officinalis, calycibus cylindricis foliis ovato-lanceolatis. Lin. Syjl. Vegetal, p. 347. 
Spec. PI. 584. 
SAPONARIA foliis ovato-lanceolatis, trinerviis; floribus tubulofls, umbellatis. Haller hijl. heh.n. 980. 
LYCHNIS officinalis. Scopoli. FI. Carniol. p. 303. n. 510. 
SAPONARIA major laevis. Bauhin. pin . 206. 
SAPONARIA Ger. emac. 444. 
SAPONARIA vulgaris. ParkinJbn. 641. 
LYCHNIS Saponaria diCta. Rail Syn. p. 339. Common Sopewort. 
FI. Dan. icon. 543. 
Hudfion Fl. Angl. p. 339. Oeder. 
RADIX perennis, cortice rubente te&a, profunde de- | ROOT perennial, covered with a reddilh coloured barkj 
fcendens, lateque reptans, gemmis vivacibus 
inftruCta, hinc tritici repentis aemulus, ex 
hortis difficillime extirpatur. 
CAULES pedales et ultra, ereCti, rigidi, teretes, fub- 
rubentes, geniculati, fuperne ramofl, ramis 
oppofitis. 
FOLIA ovato-lanceolato, connata, brachiatim oppofita, 
glabra, trinervia, patentia. 
FLORES terminales, fubutnbellati, carnei. 
CALYX : Perianthium monopyllum, tubulofum, 
baft intropreffiim, fcabriufculum, oblongum, 
quinquedentatum, fig. t. 
ftriking deep into the ground, and fpreading 
wide, furnifhed with living buds, whence, 
like Couch-Grafs, it is with the greateft 
difficulty rooted out of gardens. 
STALKS a foot or more in height, upright, rigid, 
round, of a reddiffi colour, jointed, at top 
branched, the branches oppoftte. 
LEAVES of an oval pointed ffiape, connate, alternate- 
ly oppofite, fmooth, with three ribs, and 
fpreading. 
FLOWERS terminal, forming a kind of umbell, fleffi 
coloured. 
CALYX ; a Perianthium of one leaf, tubular, 
preffed in at the bafe, roughilh, oblong, with 
five teeth. Jig. 
COROLLA: Petala quinque; mgues angufti, angu- | COROLLA: five Petals, the claws narrow, angu- 
i..: 1 — . „ * lar a lit-t-lp Inncrpr than flip Gnlvv. ficr. n. a : 
lati, calyce paulo longiores, Jig. 3, 4 ; limbus ? 
planus, obcordatus, bafi bidentatus, Jig. 3. | 
lar, a little longer than the Calyx, fig. 3, 4 ; 
the limb flat, inverfely heart-lhaped, furnifhed 
at bottom with two little teeth, fig. 3. 
STAMINA Filament a decem, fubulata, longitudine J STAMINA ^ ten ^ Filaments,^ tapering,^ the .^length 
tubi corollae, alterna unguibus petalorum 
ferta : Anther.® oblongas, pallidae, fig. 5. 
PISTILLUM : Germen oblongum. 
tubi corollas, alterna unguibus petalorum in- | 
t 
¥ 
teretiufculum, ~ 
tranfverle rugofum, viride: Styli duo, fu- 
bulati, albi : Stigmata fimplicia,^. 6, 7, 8. 
PERICARPIUM : Capsula oblonga, unilocularis, 
longitudine calycis, ventricola, calyce teCta, 
ore quadridentato, fig. 9. 
SEMINA plurima, nigricantia, reniformia, fuperficie 
granulata, fig. 10, 11 
of the tube of the Corolla ; the alternate ones 
inferted into the claws of the petals : Anthe- 
r® oblong, of a pale colour, fig. 5. 
PISTILLUM : Germen oblong, roundifh, tranverfly 
wrinkled, and green : Styles two, taper- 
ing, and white; Stigmata Ample, fig. 6, 
7, 8. 
SEED-VESSEL: an oblong Capsule of one cavity, 
the length of the Calyx, bellying out, cover- 
ed with the Calyx ; the mouth having four 
teeth, fig. 9. 
SEEDS numerous, blackifh, kidney fhaped, the fur- 
face granulated, fig. 10, 11. 
The name of Sopewort has been given to this plant, from its anfwering in a confiderable 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 teftimomes 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 moift 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 bloiTom’d, both 
Angle and double ; as alfo that Angular variety the Saponaria concava anglica of Bauhine and Morison, in which 
the leaves furround the {talk, and the bloffom becomes monopetalous, but generally fplit, and deftitute of the other 
parts of the fruCtiftcation ; found originally by Gerard, in a fmall grove of a wood called the Spiney, near Lich- 
barrow, in Northamptonjhire ; where, according to the teftimony of Morton, hifi. nat. agr. North, it is no longer 
to be found ; and which variety appears more like a lufus naturae, as Ray conAders it, than a mule plant, produ- 
ced betwixt a Gentian and the Sopewort, as Linn®us ftrft fuggefted. 
All thefe varieties are eaAly 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 wafhed out with it, but not ftains ; idem. 
The root tailed not bitter, but fweet ; afterwards warm and biting in the throat ; Rutty Mat. Med. 
The tafte of the leaves bitter, mucilaginous, {lightly 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 the 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 Ikin ; idem. 
Internally the deco&ion of the whole herb is fudoriftc, and promotes the menfes ; idem. 
If the decottion 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 obftruCtions of the vifcera, it has been recommended by Boerhave; 
Haller hijl '. helv. . . , 
By others it has been recommended in venereal and fcrophulous difeafes, particularly m the former by Stahl, 
w ho deemed it fuperior to Sarfaparilla ; Newman's Chem. by Lewis. 
