Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Saponaria officinalis

Common name

Soapwort, Bouncing Bet, Common Soapwort

Family

Caryophyllaceae

Where found

Weed of roadsides, waste ground and along streams. Widespread, but rarely coastal except in the Sydney area.

Notes

Introduced perennial herb to 1 m high, occasionally prostrate, with stout branching rhizomes and long stolons. Stems hairless or with sparse hairs. Leaves opposite each other, 2.5–10 cm long, 6–30 mm wide, conspicuously 3-veined, lower surface covered with minute blisters, tips pointed. Flowers white or pink to pinkish mauve, tubular, with 5 lobes, each about 10 mm long. Flowers in tight clusters of 6–25 flowers. Flowering: winter to summer.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Saponaria~officinalis  (accessed 6 February, 2021)