SOAP FROM WILD PLANTS 



By Charles Francis Saunders. 



"XTATURE evidently intended man to be cleanly, for long 

 ■*■ before the invention of soap she had stocked the earth 



with plants capable of being used as soaps and quite as effective 

 as the manufactured article. In the United States alone there 

 are half a dozen genera of native plants which contain saponin 

 in sufficient quantities to make them capital detergents. They 

 are most numerous in the arid Southwest and on the Pacific 

 Coast, and are variously known as soap-weed, soap-root, soap- 

 plant and amole — the last being the name given by Spanish- 

 Americans. Botanically these plants are indigenous species of 

 Cucurbita, Ceanothus, Chenopodium, Chlorogalwm, Yucca and 

 Zygadenus, in addition to which an Old World species of 

 Saponaria is represented in the herb Bouncing Bet. which. 

 i riginallv cultivated here as a garden flower, has now become 

 a naturalized escape in many parts of our countryside. 



Of these soap plants it is usually the root which is used. 

 and all that is necessary to do is to dig this up, rinse it, crush 

 it somewhat, and rub it briskly between the hands in water, 

 when a lather is produced which quickly cleanses the skin leav- 

 ing it agreeably soft. In the case of several species of 

 Ccanot'tiis, which are particularly abundant in California, the 

 flowers and the green seed-vessels may be used with like effect. 

 These shrubs are known as wild lilacs and during their season 

 of bloom covers entire hillsides in places with a delicate veil of 

 color. There is one species of Ceanothus (C. Aiucricaiuis) 

 indigenous to our Atlantic seaboard and known commonly as 



