Soapwort

Did you know

• The leaves and roots contain saponins — soap-like glycosides that foam vigorously when agitated in water — and have been used as a gentle cleanser for delicate fabrics like antique silk and tapestries since the Middle Ages.
• Museum conservators at major textile museums still use dilute soapwort extract to clean historic tapestries and garments where modern detergents would damage fragile fibers or dyes.
• Soapwort has naturalized extensively across North America after escaping from colonial herb gardens, and can be found growing on roadsides, riverbanks, and disturbed areas throughout temperate regions.
• The fragrant pink flowers open in the evening and are pollinated by moths and hawk moths, which can hover while feeding — the sweet clove-like scent intensifies noticeably at dusk.
• A double-flowered form called 'Flore Pleno' has been grown in gardens since at least the 17th century and is considered one of the oldest surviving garden cultivars still in widespread cultivation.

Color meanings

Uses

• herbal soap
• textile cleaning
• ornamental
• medicinal