• NSF NEON | Open Data to Understand our Ecosystems
  • Biorepository Data Portal

  • Home
  • Search
    • Sample search
    • Map search
    • Dynamic Species List
    • Taxonomic Explorer
  • Images
    • Image Browser
    • Image Search
  • Datasets
    • Research Datasets and Special Collections
    • Carabidae Checklists with Keys
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Invertebrates
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Plants
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Vertebrates
  • Sample Use
    • Sample Use Policy
    • Sample Request
    • Sample Archival Request
    • Data Usage Policy
    • Dataset Publishing
  • Additional Information
    • Tutorials and Help
    • Biorepository Staff
    • About NEON
    • NEON Data Portal
    • ASU Biocollections
    • About Symbiota
  • Getting Started
Login New Account Sitemap
Vaccaria hispanica (Miller) Rauschert  

No occurrences found

Family: Caryophyllaceae
cow soapwort
[Saponaria vaccaria L., moreVaccaria pyramidata Medicus, Vaccaria segetalis (Neck.) Ascherson, Vaccaria vaccaria Huth, Vaccaria vulgaris Host]
Images
not available
  • FNA
  • vPlants
  • Gleason & Cronquist
  • Resources
John W. Thieret, Richard K. Rabeler in Flora of North America (vol. 5)
Plants glabrous, glaucous. Stems 20-100 cm. Leaf blades 2-10 cm, base cuneate to cordate. Cymes open, 16-50(-100)-flowered. Pedicels (5-)10-30(-55) mm. Flowers: calyx 9-17 mm, with 5 prominent, usually green, winged angles or ridges, each ridge with strong, cordlike marginal vein; petals with claw 8-14 mm, blade 3-8 mm. Capsules included in calyx tube. Seeds 2-2.5 mm wide. 2n = 30. Flowering spring-summer. Fields, waste places; 0-2400 m; introduced; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., N.S., Ont., Que., Sask., Yukon; Ala., Alaska, Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Eurasia; widely naturalized elsewhere. If the genus Vaccaria is treated as monotypic, V. hispanica then includes four subspecies, and our material is subsp. hispanica. Vaccaria hispanica still occasionally is included in Saponaria (e.g., F. Swink and G. S. Wilhelm 1994). Once a common weed of grain fields (like Agrostemma githago), it is now increasingly rare or has been extirpated in many localities; the distribution stated above may be the historical maximum, rather than current, North American distribution. The saponin-containing seeds of this species are poisonous upon ingestion.

The Morton Arboretum
Annual herb with a stout taproot 20 cm - 1 m tall Stem: unbranched below, becoming much-branched above, with a waxy coating (glaucous). Leaves: opposite, stalked (basal), stalkless (stem), somewhat clasping or fused at the base, 2 - 10 cm long, to 4 cm wide, lance-shaped to narrowly egg-shaped with a tapering to heart-shaped base and pointed tip, one-veined, with a waxy coating (glaucous). Inflorescence: a terminal, loose, open cluster (paniculate cyme) of sixteen to fifty (or more) flowers, subtended by a pair of leaf-like bracts. Flowers: pink. Stalk upright, 1 - 3 cm long. Stamens ten, exserted. Styles two. Sepals: fused at the base into a tube (calyx). Calyx tube whitish green, 0.9 - 1.7 cm long, egg- to flask-shaped, five-veined, with five strongly winged ridges. Each ridge bears a strong marginal vein. Lobes green, shorter than tube, one-veined. Petals: five, pink, clawed. Claw 8 - 14 mm long. Blade 3 - 8 mm long and reverse egg-shaped with a slightly notched tip. Fruit: a dehiscent capsule, included in calyx tube, opening by four slightly spreading teeth, 6 - 8 mm long. Seeds about ten, reddish brown to black, 2 - 2.5 mm wide, nearly spherical, laterally compressed, bumpy.

Similar species: No information at this time.

Flowering: mid-June to late July

Habitat and ecology: Introduced from Europe. Rare in the Chicago Region. Has been found near railroads and grain elevators.

Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native

Etymology: Vaccaria comes from the Latin words vacca, meaning cow, and -aria meaning "pertaining to," referring to its alleged value for fodder. Hispanica means "of or from Spain."

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada
Taprooted annual, 2-6 dm, branched above, glabrous and glaucous; cauline lvs 5-10 נ2-4 cm, lanceolate to lance-ovate, acute, clasping or the lower connate; cal 12-17 mm, ovoid or flask-shaped; pet 18-22 mm, pink, the blade 6-8 mm, obovate, retuse; stamens exsert; fr 6-8 mm; seeds 2-2.6 mm, minutely tuberculate, reddish-brown to black; 2n=30. Native of Europe, widely distributed as a weed through temperate N. Amer. (V. pyramidata; V. segetalis; V. vaccaria; Saponaria vaccaria)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Click to Display
0 Total Images
NSF NEON | Open Data to Understand our Ecosystems The National Ecological Observatory Network is a major facility fully funded by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.