BUNCH-FLOWER FAMILY. 319 
MELANTHACEAE. Bunch-Flower Family. 
Chlorogalum pomeridianum (Ker-Gawl.) Kunth. 
Nosh (Yuki). —The plant commonly known as ‘*soaproot” or 
‘amole” (PL XV), which grows plentifully on rocky banks and hills 
throughout the district. It has a radical tuft of flaccid strap-like 
leaves, anda nearly leafless, paniculately branching stem 2 to 6 feet high 
proceeding from a bottle-shaped fleshy bulb which is densely covered 
with coarse brown hair. The flowers, which open only after midday, 
are white. The bulb is from 3 to 5 inches in length and 1 to 3 in 
width, and is the most interesting and useful part of the plant, some- 
8 or 10 different methods of using it having been cited to me by vari- 
ous individuals. For the sake of convenience these uses may be 
divided into two classes, one dependent principally 1f not wholly upon 
mechanical properties, the other upon the chemical properties of the 
poisonous substance sapotoxin, which the root contains in considera- 
ble quantity. 
The coarse, horsehair-like outer portion of the bulb is sometimes 
gathered into bunches and made into small brushes, which are used 
especially in connection with the process of grinding acorns for meal. 
It used to be gathered in very large quantities and sold to dealers to 
be used as a substitute for hair in mattresses. As these proved unsat- 
isfactory to the white people who used them, the demand soon ceased, 
and now the fiber is used for beds only occasionally by the Indians. 
About 50 pounds of this material was observed at an Indian hut near 
Ukiah. 
The fresh green leaves are, on account of their flexible and half- 
succulent character, especially esteemed in summer, when most other 
leaves are dry, in the process of baking acorn bread. The dough is 
completely covered with them before being placed on the hot rocks 
and covered with other leaves and ashes. The parallel markings of 
the veins are as distinctly shown on the bread as they are on some 
pieces of fossil-bearing coal, which, when old, the bread very closely 
resembles. The green leaves used to be pricked into the skin to form 
green tattoo marks. 
When the substance of the bulb is roasted a viscid juice is exuded. 
This formerly served as a substitute for glue in attaching feathers to 
arrows. When diluted with water it was smeared over the back of a 
bow, to which soot was then quickly applied in order to produce a 
‘permanent black color, which caused the bow to appear old. 
Intermediate between the mechanical and chemical properties, the 
use of the plant for food and for soap should be mentioned. I have 
no clear evidence that the bulb itself is eaten, but the young shoots 
gathered in March are consumed by nearly all the Indians. Some of 
those who were most highly civilized pronounced these shoots to be as 
