SOAP FROM WILD PLANTS 



By Charles Fraxcis 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 nsed as so'aps and cjuite 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 Cjuantities 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 aiiiolc — the last being the name given by Spanish- 

 Americans. Botanically these plants are indigenous species of 

 Cucurhita, Ccaiiothus, Chcjiopodiinii, Chlorogahnu , Yucca and 

 Zygadcnus, in addition to which an Old AA^orld species of 

 Saponaria is represented in the herb Bouncing Bet, which, 

 originally cultiA'ated 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 cpuickly cleanses the skin lea^'- 

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

 Ccanot^uis, 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 C canotlins (C Ainericanus) 

 indigenous to our Atlantic seaboard and known commonly as 



