Common Name: PINK FAMILY
Habit: Annual to perennial herb; rarely dioecious (Silene), taprooted or rhizome generally slender. Leaf: simple, generally opposite (subwhorled), entire, pairs at nodes often +- connected at bases; stipules generally 0; petiole generally 0. Inflorescence: generally cyme, generally open; flowers 1--many; involucre generally 0 (present in most Dianthus, Petrorhagia). Flower: generally bisexual, radial; hypanthium often present but obscure; sepals (4)5, +- free or fused into a tube, margins generally scarious, more so on inner 2 or not, tube generally not scarious, awns generally 0; petals (4)5 or 0, generally tapered to base (or with claw long, limb expanded), entire to 2--several-lobed, limb generally without scale-like appendages adaxially, generally without ear-like lobes at base; stamens generally 10, generally fertile, generally free, generally from ovary base; nectaries 0 or 5; ovary superior, generally 1-chambered, placentas basal or free-central, styles 2--5 with 0 branches or 1 with 2--3 branches. Fruit: capsule or utricle (rarely +- dehiscent), generally sessile. Seed: appendage generally 0 (present in Moehringia).
Genera In Family: +- 100 genera, 3000 species: widespread, especially arctic, alpine, temperate northern hemisphere; some cultivated (Agrostemma, Arenaria, Atocion, Cerastium, Dianthus, Gypsophila, Lychnis, Sagina, Saponaria, Silene). Note: Apetalous Caryophyllaceae can also be keyed in Rabeler & Hartman 2005 FNANM 5:5--8. Taxa of Minuartia in TJM2 treated here in Cherleria and Sabulina; Pseudostellaria in Hartmaniella and Schizotechium; Vaccaria in Gypsophila; Velezia in Dianthus.
eFlora Treatment Author: Ronald L. Hartman (deceased) & Richard K. Rabeler, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin & Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: SOAPWORT
Habit: Perennial herb, erect, rhizomed. Leaf: petioled or not; blade oblanceolate to ovate; veins 3. Inflorescence: terminal, dense; flowers 20--40+; pedicels generally 0--3 mm. Flower: sepals 5, fused, tube prominent, 15--20 mm, 4--8 mm diam, lanceolate to oblong, rounded, veins 20, obscure, lobes 5, 1.5--5 mm, triangular-acuminate; petals 5, 25--40 mm, claw long, limb entire to +- obcordate, appendages 2; stamens fused with petals to ovary stalk; styles 2, 12--15 mm. Fruit: capsule, +- ovoid; stalk 2--3 mm; valves 4, ascending to recurved. Seed: many, +- purple to black.
Etymology: (Latin: soap, from sap lathering with water) Note: Saponaria ocymoides L. not in California.
Reference: Thieret & Rabeler 2005 FNANM 5:157--158