Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
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)
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