Saponaria officinalis 'Alba Plena'

Saponaria officinalis L. Caryophyllaceae Cultivar 'Alba Plena' has double white flowers. Soapwort. Distribution: Europe. Linnaeus (1782) noted its use for weight loss, vaginal discharge, jaundice and parasitic intestinal worms [Ascaris lumbricoides]. The roots, crushed, lathered in water, were used as a soap substitute (Stearn, 1994), but Lyte (1578) says it is the leaves which were used. He writes that German swineherds give it chopped up to their pigs to protect them 'from the Murren' [ie 'murrain' the name used for all the fatal epidemics of cattle and sheep that swept Europe in the 14th century, causing the Great Famine of 1315-1317, and in later years]. As a medicine he thought it good against all chest conditions, 'venome and poyson', air-born infection and pestilence [the plague], and for healing wounds and ulcers. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.