VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTES FOR SOAP 



The soap plants thus far named must, from the 

 nature of the case, suffer extermination in the 

 fulfilling of their ■sd.ssion, but there are others in- 

 digenous to the United States that need not be killed 

 to serve. First among these may be mentioned the 

 genus Ceanothus, one species of which — the New 

 Jersey Tea — has already claimed attention in the 

 chapter on Beverage Plants. The genus comprises 

 about thirty-five species, nearly all shrubs or small 

 trees confined to the western United States and 

 northern Mexico. They are particularly abundant 

 on the Pacific Coast, and are popularly known as 

 "wild lilac" and "myrtle" (one or two species as 

 "buck brush"). They are frequently an important 

 element in the chaparral cover of the mountain 

 sides, and in the spring their flowers create beautiful 

 effects in such situations, forming unbroken sheets 

 of white or blue, acres in extent. The fresh blossoms 

 of many species — perhaps of most or even aU — are 

 saponaceous, and rubbed in water produce a cleans- 

 ing lather that is a good substitute for toilet soap. 

 Care must be exercised, however, to pick off any 

 green footstalks that cling to the flowers, as these 



suds are preferable to commercial soap for washing and whitening 

 woolens, blankets and dyed cottons, the colors of which are improved 

 by the process. 



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