USEFUL NATIVE PLANTS OF NEW MEXICO—STANDLEY. 453 
reduced to small particles they are used almost exactly as soap, form- 
ing a copious and persistent lather. Both the Indians and the 
Mexican population use the soap weed in this form, especially for 
washing the hair. The ground root, amole, is said to be superior to 
soap for many purposes. In small amounts it has been placed upon 
the market, where, if its merits were better known, doubtless a profit- 
able sale could be found for it. Thesoap weeds thrive so well through- 
out the Southwest that an almost inexhaustible supply of the roots 
could be depended upon. There are possibilities in the use of 
saponin from this source for other purposes. 
Yucca leaves furnished the Indians with the most satisfactory 
material for their basketry. The Mescalero Apaches, whose baskets 
compare favorably with those made by any of the North American 
Indians, use the leaves of two species (Yucca radiosa and Y. macro- 
carpa), obtaining from either of them two colors of fiber with which 
they usually associate a third derived from another source. From 
the interior of the yucca leaf is taken the nearly white fiber which 
forms the groundwork of the basket. The geometrical designs with 
which these are customarily decorated are worked in with strips from 
the outer coarser part of the leaf, of a soft greenish-yellow color. 
With these the weavers combine a few strands of a dark reddish- 
brown fiber prepared from the bark of the lemita, a kind of sumac 
(Schmaltzia trilobata and related species). Not all Indian baskets 
made in New Mexico are woven from these materials, but most of 
them are substantially the same. Some tribes use the bark of the 
willow or that of other trees and shrubs, while a few prefer the stems 
of cat-tails, rushes, or sedges. The Apaches also fashion wicker water 
bottles from the slender willow twigs, waterproofing them with 
interior and exterior coats of resin from the yellow pine. Anywhere 
upon the Mescalero Reservation one may come upon dead pines, killed 
by the removal of the bark from their trunks for several feet above 
grouml so as to produce an exudation of resin for this purpose. 
Almost all the Indian tribes of the Southwest manufacture similar 
receptacles for water, although some use earthenware jars. 
Because of the prominence and strength of their fibro-vascular 
bundles Yucca leaves have been considered as a possible source of 
fiber for cordage, but they are not well suited to such a purpose since 
their product is coarse and hard. On a small scale the leaves have 
been made into heavy stable brooms and there is a possibility of a 
more extensive utilization in this direction. 
‘There are several New Mexican plants that may become fiber pro- 
ducers. The bear grass (Nolina microcarpa and other species, pl. 9) 
furnishes a good quality of fiber, and tests have been made of the 
sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri). Related plants furnish commercial 
fibers in Mexico and other countries. The lechuguilla (Agave lechu- 
