Formerly much cultivated, this alien is now a widespread weed in temperate North America, especially along roads and railroads. Ga noted: "Everywhere along pikes, railroads, and about old premises... It is one of the old-time ornamentals belonging to the period of the Star-of-Bethlehem, periwinkle and blackberry lily." S. officinalis has had ancient use for making soap, simply from boiling leaves or roots in water to extract its diverse triperpenoid saponins (Mitich 1990, Koike et al. 1999). Plants also contain "saporins", which are ribosome-inactivating proteins with some toxicity and considerable potential for medical applications (Lombardi et al. 2010); combination with saponins enhances the anti-cancer potential of saporin-based compounds (Smith et al. 2019).