_Silene pennsylvanica (S. caroliniana)_
_Flowers_--Rose pink, deep or very pale; about 1 inch broad, on slender
footstalks, in terminal clusters. Calyx tubular, 5-toothed, much
enlarged in fruit, sticky; 5 petals with claws enclosed in calyx,
wedge-shaped above, slightly notched. Stamens 10; pistil with 3 styles.
_Stem:_ 4 to 10 in. high, hairy, sticky above, growing in tufts.
_Leaves:_ Basal ones spatulate; 2 or 3 pairs of lance-shaped, smaller
leaves seated on stem.
_Preferred Habitat_--Dry, gravelly, sandy, or rocky soil.
_Flowering Season_--April-June.
_Distribution_--New England, south to Georgia, westward to Kentucky.
Fresh, dainty, and innocent-looking as Spring herself are these bright
flowers. Alas, for the tiny creatures that try to climb up the rosy
tufts to pilfer nectar, they and their relatives are not so innocent as
they appear! While the little crawlers are almost within reach of the
cup of sweets, their feet are gummed to the viscid matter that coats it,
and here their struggles end as flies’ do on sticky fly-paper, or birds’
on limed twigs. A naturalist counted sixty-two little corpses on the
sticky stem of a single pink. All this tragedy to protect a little
nectar for the butterflies which, in sipping it, transfer the pollen
from one flower to another, and so help them to produce the most
beautiful and robust offspring.
Soapwort; Bouncing Bet; Hedge Pink; Bruisewort; Old Maid’s Pink;
Fuller’s Herb
_Saponaria officinalis_
_Flowers_--Pink or whitish, fragrant, about 1 inch broad, loosely
clustered at end of stem, also sparingly from axils of upper leaves.
Calyx tubular, 5-toothed, about 3/4 in. long; 5 petals, the claws
inserted in deep tube. Stamens 10, in 2 sets; 1 pistil with 2 styles.
Flowers frequently double. _Stem:_ 1 to 2 ft. high, erect, stout,
sparingly branched, leafy. _Leaves:_ Opposite, acutely oval, 2 to 3 in.
long, about 1 in. wide, 3 to 5 ribbed. _Fruit:_ An oblong capsule,
shorter than calyx, opening at top by 4 short teeth or valves.
_Preferred Habitat_--Roadsides, banks, and waste places.
_Flowering Season_--June-September.
_Distribution_--Generally common. Naturalized from Europe.
A stout, buxom, exuberantly healthy lassie among flowers is Bouncing
Bet, who long ago escaped from gardens whither she was brought from
Europe, and ran wild beyond colonial farms to roadsides, along which she
has travelled over nearly our entire area. Underground runners and
abundant seed soon form thrifty colonies. This plant, to which our
grandmothers ascribed healing virtues, makes a cleansing, soap-like
lather when its bruised leaves are agitated in water.