Weedy plant with downy stems and leaves. Leaves opposite each other, stalkless, long triangular, with one main vein, untoothed. Flowers have 5 deeply cut white or pale pink petals at the end of a long tube. Sepals united into an inflated sac with strong green veins and fuzzy hairs. Fruit an open-topped woody urn containing loose seeds.

Weed from Eurasia, favoring fields and waste places. Occasional in Wildwood, in meadows and along Bikeway.

At first glance, bouncing bet (Saponaria officinalis) is simmilar, but the leaves have 3-5 main veins, the sepals are much less inflated, the petals are swept back, andthe petals are only indented, not cut.