Soapwort

(First upload on October 24 2014. Last on November 1 2022) [ 日本語 | English ]

Saponaria officinalis L.

Mount Usu / Sarobetsu post-mined peatland
From left: Crater basin in 1986 and 2006. Cottongrass / Daylily

HOME > Plant list (植物リスト) > Caryophyllaceae (ナデシコ科) > Saponaria officinalis

Saponaria L. (サボンソウ)

Sabonsou (サボンソウ/シャボンソウ, 石鹸草), soapwort
Lifeform: perennial forb
Distribution: Europe - central Asia (introduced to Japan in Meiji Era)
Habitat: grasslands, riverbeds, etc. (escaped)

Hokkaido Blue List: rank B

Flower: pale pink - white
Use: gardening, traditionally used for soap and medicie (saponin in the roots)
Cultivars: double-flowered, etc.
var. plena Hort. (ヤエサボンソウ), double-flowered, when established

Saponaria officinalis in Hokkaido

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[1] on a sandbar near Kariki Bridge along Toyohira River, Sapporo, on July 14 2020. [2/3] at a roadside, N11/W1, North Ward, Sapporo, on July 24 2014. [4-6] in a flower bed under a street tree on N11/W5, North Ward, Sapporo, on July 20 2016.

Double-flowered cultivar

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[1-3] under a street tree in N17/E3, East Ward, Sapporo, on July 31 2021.

var. plena (ヤエサボンソウ)

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[1-3] in Experimental Station for Medical Plant Studies, Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University, on August 25 2022.