SAPONA'RIA OCYMOIDES. 
BASIL-LEAVED SOAPWORT. 
Class. Order. 
DECANDRIA. TRIGVNIA. 
Natural Order. 
CARYOPHYLLE M. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
France. 
6 inches. 
June, July. 
Perennial. 
in 1768. 
No. 165. 
The generic name of this plant, from the Latin, 
like our English appellation, is given in conse- 
quence of a saponaceous quality possessed by the 
Saponaria officinalis. Ocymoides, from its like- 
ness to the common Ocymum or Basil. 
In the pronunciation of words ending in ides, 
from the Greek eidos, a likeness, which, in bota- 
nical language, is preceded by an o, the oi should 
not be made to form a diphthong, as in toil ; 
but each of these two letters should be distinctly 
sounded, givingthe accent or stress to the i. Elder 
readers will excuse our desire of being useful to 
junior botanists, by thus noting apparent truisms. 
The Saponaria ocymoides is a delightful little 
plant for ornamenting rock-work, where the soil 
is light and dry, with the advantage of a little 
shade; and though its small half-shrubby stems 
will assume an aspect of poverty in the winter, 
still a luxuriant offspring will generally appear, 
with the vegetable tribes that shoot forth upon the 
parterre, in that season when every bank and plain 
unite to form a universal nosegay ; a season which 
Thomson clearly presents to the reader’s view. — 
42 
