ID : Riverside flowering plant.

[Andrew C]

Hello,

During a brief visit to the upper reaches of the River Exe in Tiverton I spotted a single specimen of a flowering plant on the riverbank. It screams garden escapee to me but I wanted to ask if anyone had any idea what it could be and if it is wild, an escape from cultivation or a naturalised plant?

Regards,
Andrew.

[Johnny81]

This looks like Soapwort Saponaria officinalis - a naturalised garden escape.

[Andrew C]

Thanks for helping me with this one Johnny, it certainly fits the bill.

Regards,
Andrew.

[alindsay]

AndrewC

You may be interested to know that soapwort was once a crop grown close to woollen mills, as the greenparts produce a lathery liquid once widely used for washing woollen cloth and so your plant could be a descendant of this rather than a garden escapee.

However, the Reader's Digest Field Guide to Wild Flowers states that

"its presence by streams in the West Country, far away from human habitation, suggests that there at least may have been a British native"

Your find is a single flowerhead, but interestingly, the one I spot each year by the River Lea is a double, see photo below (not as clear as your photo, sorry)



An very interesting find. When did you take the photos as it would be amazing if it was in flower in October.

[Dorts]

That's interesting Alison. The double-flowered - 'flora-pleno' is by far the most common form near habitation.

Here's some in our village.

I suppose if it was once grown and used by rural folk as a soap substitute for washing clothes for example, then the double-form would inevitably have become the plant of choice, simply for being more attractive.
The single-flowered form is the most likely to be found in the 'wild' and could well be a candidate for being native.
Dorts.

[Andrew C]

Originally Posted by alindsay

AndrewC

You may be interested to know that soapwort was once a crop grown close to woollen mills, as the greenparts produce a lathery liquid once widely used for washing woollen cloth and so your plant could be a descendant of this rather than a garden escapee.

However, the Reader's Digest Field Guide to Wild Flowers states that

"its presence by streams in the West Country, far away from human habitation, suggests that there at least may have been a British native"

Your find is a single flowerhead, but interestingly, the one I spot each year by the River Lea is a double, see photo below (not as clear as your photo, sorry)



An very interesting find. When did you take the photos as it would be amazing if it was in flower in October.

Evening,

Thanks. This is very interesting as the plant was on the river bank of the Exe upstream of the Heathcoat Textile factory in Tiverton which has produced (and still does to a degree) it's own cloth for a very long time. I doubt it is old enough to have been using Soapwort in the manner you describe though.

This specimen is within farmland on the green belt of Tiverton so it is tricky to define it as being far from habitation but I suppose it could be so.

It was indeed in flower in October as I saw it and photographed it this afternoon when looking for aquatic invertebrates.

Regards,
Andrew.

[alindsay]

I say amazing, as it should have stopped flowering after August.

Thanks AndrewC for the textile connection. Perhaps Tiverton has a longer associated history with wool than we know about.