Saponaria ocymoides common names Rock Soapwort or Tumbling Ted, is a herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 semi-evergreen perennial plant of the genus Saponaria

Saponaria

Saponaria, also known as soapworts, is a genus of about 20 species of perennial herbs in the Caryophyllaceae, native to southern Europe and southwest Asia. The most familiar species in Europe is the Common Soapwort , locally simply known as "the Soapwort". They grow to a height of 10-60 cm, with...

belonging to the family Caryophyllaceae

Caryophyllaceae

The Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactaceae and Polygonaceae...

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Description

Saponaria ocymoides reaches on average 10–40 cm (3.9–15.7 ) of height. The stem is prostrate to ascending, woody, reddish, quite hairy and very branched. The leaves are ovate to lanceolate, sessile and hairy, about 1–3 cm (0.393700787401575–1.2 ) long. The flowers are arranged in groups at the ends of branches. Corolla has red or pink (rarely white) petal

Petal

Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...

s and blue Anthers of the stamens. The sepals are fused in a tube about an 8 to 10 millimeters long. Flowering period extends from May to August. Fruit is an ovoid capsule, up to 9 mm long.

Distribution

This species is present from the mountains of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 to Corsica

Corsica

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

, Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

 and Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, from the Apennine

Apennine

-Other places on Earth:*The Apennine or Italian peninsula*Apennins, a department of the first French Empire-Plants and animals:*The Apennine , a modern breed of domestic sheep.*Apennine Shrew, an insectivore endemic to Italy...

s to the Alps

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

. Saponaria ocymoides subsp. alsinoides is endemic to Corsica

Corsica

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

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Habitat

This plant grows in rocky and stony places, dry slopes and forests (especially pine forests). It prefers calcareous soils, at an altitude of 0–1500 m (0–4,921.3 ) above sea level (rarely up to 2400 metres (7,874 ft)). It is one of the more common plants in rock gardens and dry stone walls.

External links

• Biolib
• Saponaria ocymoides
• Gardening