USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



fleshy leaves, few in number (rarely over fifteen) and 

 barely a foot long, the flowers borne in a close panicle 

 almost like a spike. The short trunk of the plant is, 

 I believe, the part usually used for soap ; but Dr. 

 J. X. Rose, in his ''Notes on Useful Plants of 

 Mexico,'^ quotes Havard as authority for the state- 

 ment that saponin is found in the leaves of this 

 species. The rootstock of a related Texan species 

 {A. varier/afa, Jacobi) is also soapy, and the paper 

 by Dr. Rose just mentioned quotes a statement by 

 a resident of Bro^\msville, Texas, to the effect that a 

 piece of the rootstock of the latter species as big 

 as a walnut, grated and mixed with a quart of 

 warm water, will clean a whole suit of clothes. The 

 most used Agave-amoles, however, are plants of 

 Mexico, the discussion of which would not be perti- 

 nent here. 



Of wide occurrence in California is an amole of 

 quite a different appearance. It is the bulbous root 

 of a plant of the Lily family, by botanists fearfully 

 and wonderfully called CMorogalum isomer idianum, 

 Kunth. The average American simplifies this into 

 California Soap-plant. Its first appearance is 

 shortlv after the winter rains set in, and for several 

 months all that one sees of it is a cluster of stemless, 

 grass-like, crinkly leaves, lolling weakly on the 



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