Bouncing Bet ( Saponaria officinalis ) (European). 
This is probably the most hardy and the most wide¬ 
ly distributed of our adventive members of the Pink 
Family. It increases very rapidly by means of under¬ 
ground runners as well as by seed. It is very com¬ 
monly known as “ Soapwort,” because of the fact that 
the mucilaginous juice from the crushed leaves will 
form a lather if they are shaken in water; it is said 
that it was, in olden days, used for washing purposes. 
The plant stem is quite stout, smooth, erect and 
sparingly, or not at all branched. At the top is a 
corymbed, or flat-topped, cluster containing many flow¬ 
ers; petals, notched or sometimes quite deeply cleft, and 
with an appendage at the top of the long claws that, 
bent at right angles, enter the long, tubular, veined, 
greenish, 5-notched calyx. 
From July until September, Soapwort blooms pro¬ 
fusely in waste places along railroad beds and beside 
dusty roads where few other flowers are able to flourish. 
It was one of the first of foreign flowers to be intro¬ 
duced into this country. 
63 
