128. Saponaria levantica.—Levant soapwort.

Botanical name: 
Gypsophila paniculata

128. SAPONARIA LEVANTICA.—LEVANT SOAPWORT. The root of Gyp'sophila panicula'ta Linné. Habitat: Italy to Asia Minor. A simple, fusiform root, longitudinally wrinkled, and marked with transverse ridges; used in washing silks and other fabrics. It contains sapotoxin (8.5 per cent.), and the acrid glucoside saponin, yielding by hydrolysis sapogenin, which is used as a detergent.

A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, 1917, was written by Lucius E. Sayre, B.S. Ph. M.