Deptford Pink was a beloved garden flower back in the days when people could appreciate tiny but beautiful flowers. Brought over to America, it has made itself at home here without becoming a pest, so that seeing a Deptford Pink here or there always feels like a privilege, even though it is not an uncommon plant. This one was blooming in a partly-shaded area in Robin Hill Park, Moon Township.
For a description of the species, see the Dianthus armeria reference page.
A cheerful garden flower that has made itself at home here. It is frequently found at the edges of lawns or along roadsides; these plants were blooming along the edges of a German cemetery in Beechview.
For a description of the species, see the Saponaria officinalis reference page.
”Giant” is relative to the minuscule flowers on most chickweeds: these flowers are still small, but this is a showy chickweed. It generally likes damp environments, but it’s adaptable. These were growing beside a sidewalk in the Central Square district of Mount Lebanon.
Some authorities place this plant in the genus Myosoton—a dispute that has apparently been going on for decades, since it is so listed in the 1951 Check List of the Vascular Flora of Allegheny County. The Wikimedia Commons category for Stellaria aquatica redirects to Myosoton aquaticum, which has a link to the Wikipedia article on Myosoton, which redirects to the article on Stellaria, where Myosoton is not mentioned. We have decided to follow Gray until you botanists sort this thing out. For a description of the species, see the Stellaria aquatica reference page.
The showiest chickweed in our area, even bigger than Giant Chickweed (Stellaria aquatica). It’s a flower of woodlands rather than lawns and fields. These plants were blooming along the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel.
For a description of the species, see the Stellaria Pubera reference page.
Photographed July 6.Also called Bouncing Bet, this cheerful pink came over as a garden flower, but is now thoroughly established along roadsides and at the edge of the woods. The blooming season begins in July. The flowers are very pale pink verging on white; the double forms Gray mentions seldom or never occur in the wild plants seen around Pittsburgh. The name “Soapwort” reminds us that a lathery soap can be made from the plant; it is, however, poisonous.
Photographed July 17.Gray describes the genus and the species:
SAPONARIA L. Calyx narrowly ovoid or subcylindric, 5-toothed, obscurely nerved, naked. Stamens 10. Styles 2. Pod 1-celled, or incompletely 2-4-celled at base, 4-toothed at the apex. — Coarse annuals or perennials, with large flowers. (Name from sapo, soap, the mucilaginous juice forming a lather with water.)
S. officinalis L. (SOAPWORT, BOUNCING BET.) Flowers in corymbed clusters; calyx terete; petals crowned with an appendage at the top of the claw; leaves oval-lanceolate. — Roadsides, etc. July-Sept. — A stout perennial, with large rose-colored flowers, commonly double. (Adv. from Eu.)
In How to Know the Wild Flowers (1909), Mrs. Dana gives us this description of the plant:
BOUNCING BET. SOAPWORT.
Saponaria officinalis. Pink Family.
Stem.—Rather stout; swollen at the joints. Leaves.—Oval; opposite. Flowers.—Pink or white; clustered. Calyx.—Of five united sepals. Corolla.—Of five pinkish, long-clawed petals (frequently the flowers are double). Stamens.—Ten. Pistil.—One, with two styles.
A cheery pretty plant is this with large, rose-tinged flowers which are especially effective when double.
Bouncing Bet is of a sociable turn and is seldom found far from civilization, delighting in the proximity of farm-houses and their belongings, in the shape of children, chickens, and cattle. She comes to us from England, and her “feminine comeliness and bounce” suggest to Mr. Burroughs a Yorkshire housemaid. The generic name is from sapo—soap—and refers to the lather which the juice forms with water, and which is said to have been used as a substitute for soap.
