USEFUL NATIVE PLANTS OP 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. The soap 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 tins 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 

 ground 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, pi. 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- 



