Common soapwort
Saponaria officinalis L.
- light
- Full sun
- water
- Little
- tall
- 53 cm
- wide
- 38 cm
Caryophyllaceae
Also called Bouncing-bet, Bouncing bet, Soapwort, Bladder Soapwort, China Cockle
Formerly Bootia saponaria, Bootia vulgaris, Lychnis officinalis, Lychnis saponaria, and 4 more
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Perennial or rhizomatous geophyteKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Europe to CaucasusKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun (6 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 30 cm to 76 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Spread
- 30 cm to 46 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Little: takes droughtRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- White, pinkRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -45.6 °C (USDA zone 2a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Dutch
- Zeepkruid, gewoon zeepkruid, zeepkruid
- Spanish
- Saponaria, herbada, Jabonera
- German
- Gewöhnliches Seifenkraut, Echtes Seifenkraut, Gebräuchliches Seifenkraut
- root
- SAPOFF, Sebonllys
- Portuguese
- Erva-saboeira, Erva-sabão
- Russian
- Мыльнянка лекарственная, Мыльник
- French
- Saponaire officinale, saponaire officinale
- Italian
- Saponaria
- Czech
- mydlice lékařská
- Swedish
- såpnejlika, Såpnejlika
- Japanese
- サボンソウ
- Lithuanian
- Vaistinis putoklis, Putoklis
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Saponaria officinalis (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.