Soap plant
Encyclopedia
The Soap Plants, Soaproots or Amoles are the genus
Chlorogalum of flowering plant
s. Less common names for them include Soap Lilies. They are endemic
to western North America
, from Oregon
to Baja California
, and are mostly found in California
.
The Soap Plants grow as perennial plant
s, from a bulb
, more or less elongated depending on the species. The bulbs can be white or brown, and in most species are very fibrous. The leaves grow from the base of the plant. The flower
s are borne on a long central stem, and appear to have six rather separate petals (not all are petal
s in the technical sense). There are 6 stamens, which are rather prominent in most species.
The placement of the genus Chlorogalum has varied considerably. In the APG III system
, followed here, it is placed in the family
Asparagaceae
, subfamily Agavoideae, based on molecular systematics evidence. Until the 1980s, it was generally treated in the Lily family, Liliaceae
, in the order Liliales
, and conservative taxonomic sources such as ITIS
still put it there. It has also been placed in its own family, Chorogalaceae, or in a group within the hyacinth family Hyacinthaceae (now Scilloideae), in the order Asparagales
. Phylogenetic studies based on molecular evidence (e.g. Pfosser and Speta 1999), suggested that, along with Camassia
, Chlorogalum seemed to be most closely related to the genera such as Agave
and Anthericum
.
Five species are currently classified in the genus. All except the Wavy-leafed Soap Plant, Chlorogalum pomeridianum, have rather restricted distributions, with little overlap. The Wavy-leafed Soap Plant, however, has a range that virtually encompasses those of all other members of the genus, and is the most common of them.
tribes traditionally used soaproot, which contains saponin
, as a fish poison. They would pulverize the roots, mixing in water to create a foam, and then add the suds to a stream. This would kill or incapacitate the fish, which could be gathered easily from the surface of the water. Among the tribes using this technique were the Lassik, the Luiseño, the Yuki, the Yokut, the Chilula, the Wailaki, the Miwok, the Kato, the Mattole, the Nomlaki and the Nishinam
.
Chestnut (1902) describes a range of other uses of C. pomeridinaum var. pomeridianum, including as an antiseptic poultice, as soap, and the extract from roasted bulbs used as a glue in attaching feathers to arrows. The leaves, on account of their flexible and semi-succulent character, were used in the process of baking acorn bread, being used to wrap the dough, which was then baked among fire heated rocks.
The abundant, tough external fibers sheathing the bulbs of C. pomeridinaum var. pomeridianum were used by native peoples of California to craft brushes and combs.
In literature, reference to native uses of soaproot apply to principally to C. pomeridinaum var. pomeridianum; the other taxa in the genus were not utilized.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Chlorogalum of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s. Less common names for them include Soap Lilies. They are endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
to western North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, from Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
to Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
, and are mostly found in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
The Soap Plants grow as perennial plant
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
s, from a bulb
Bulb
A bulb is a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases. The leaves often function as food storage organs during dormancy.A bulb's leaf bases, known as scales, generally do not support leaves, but contain food reserves to enable the plant to survive adverse conditions. At the center of the bulb is...
, more or less elongated depending on the species. The bulbs can be white or brown, and in most species are very fibrous. The leaves grow from the base of the plant. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are borne on a long central stem, and appear to have six rather separate petals (not all are petal
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...
s in the technical sense). There are 6 stamens, which are rather prominent in most species.
The placement of the genus Chlorogalum has varied considerably. In the APG III system
APG III system
The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy...
, followed here, it is placed in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Asparagaceae
Asparagaceae
Asparagaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots.In earlier classification systems, the species involved were often treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae...
, subfamily Agavoideae, based on molecular systematics evidence. Until the 1980s, it was generally treated in the Lily family, Liliaceae
Liliaceae
The Liliaceae, or the lily family, is a family of monocotyledons in the order Liliales. Plants in this family have linear leaves, mostly with parallel veins but with several having net venation , and flower arranged in threes. Several have bulbs, while others have rhizomes...
, in the order Liliales
Liliales
Liliales is an order of monocotyledonous flowering plants. This order of necessity includes the family Liliaceae, but both the family and the order have had a widely disputed history, with the circumscription varying greatly from one taxonomist to another...
, and conservative taxonomic sources such as ITIS
Integrated Taxonomic Information System
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System is a partnership designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species. ITIS was originally formed in 1996 as an interagency group within the U.S...
still put it there. It has also been placed in its own family, Chorogalaceae, or in a group within the hyacinth family Hyacinthaceae (now Scilloideae), in the order Asparagales
Asparagales
Asparagales is the name of an order of plants, used in modern classification systems such as the APG III system . The order takes its name from the family Asparagaceae and is placed in the monocots. The order has only recently been recognized in classification systems...
. Phylogenetic studies based on molecular evidence (e.g. Pfosser and Speta 1999), suggested that, along with Camassia
Camassia
Camassia is a genus of six species native to western North America, from southern British Columbia to northern California, and east to Utah, Wyoming and Montana...
, Chlorogalum seemed to be most closely related to the genera such as Agave
Agave
Agave is a genus of monocots. The plants are perennial, but each rosette flowers once and then dies ; they are commonly known as the century plant....
and Anthericum
Anthericum
Anthericum is a genus of about 300 species, rhizomatous perennial plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. It was formerly placed in its own family, Anthericeae. The species have rhizomatous or tuberous roots, long narrow leaves and branched stems carrying starry white flowers...
.
Five species are currently classified in the genus. All except the Wavy-leafed Soap Plant, Chlorogalum pomeridianum, have rather restricted distributions, with little overlap. The Wavy-leafed Soap Plant, however, has a range that virtually encompasses those of all other members of the genus, and is the most common of them.
- Narrow-leaf Soap PlantChlorogalum angustifoliumChlorogalum angustifolium is a species of flowering plant, known by the common name narrowleaf soap plant. It is native to the Sierra Nevada foothills and inner North Coast Ranges of California, and the mountains of southern Oregon, where it grows in heavy, rocky soils in woodland and on grassy...
, Chlorogalum angustifolium, found in the inner north Pacific Coast RangesPacific Coast RangesThe Pacific Coast Ranges and the Pacific Mountain System are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico...
of California and southern Oregon and the Sierra Nevada foothills - Red Hills SoaprootChlorogalum grandiflorumChlorogalum grandiflorum is a species of flowering plant known by the common name Red Hills soap plant. It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada foothills, such as the Red Hills , of California, where it grows in chaparral, woodland, and forest.-Description:This uncommon perennial wildflower grows from a...
, Chlorogalum grandiflorum, found in the north and central Sierra Nevada foothills - Small-flowered SoaprootChlorogalum parviflorumChlorogalum parviflorum is a species of perennial herb known by the common name smallflower soap plant. It is a monocot, native to coastal southern California and Baja California, where it is a member of the coastal sage scrub flora. This perennial wildflower grows from a dark-coated bulb several...
Chlorogalum parviflorum, found in the south coastal region of California, south of Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara, CaliforniaSanta Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, and into Baja California - Wavy-leafed Soap PlantChlorogalum pomeridianumChlorogalum pomeridianum, the Wavy-leafed Soap Plant or California soaproot, is the most common and most widely distributed of the Soap Plants, Soaproots or Amoles, which make up the genus Chlorogalum of flowering plants. It is found in most of California, apart from the Sierra Nevada and the...
, Chlorogalum pomeridianum, found anywhere in CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
except the higher Sierra Nevada and the deserts, and also in south-western Oregon - Purple AmoleChlorogalum purpureumChlorogalum purpureum is a species of flowering plant related to the agaves known by the common name purple amole. This species of soap plant is endemic to California where it grows in the mountain ranges of the Central Coast. There are two varieties of this plant, and both are believed to be quite...
, Chlorogalum purpureum, found in the Outer South Coast Ranges of California, south of Monterey BayMonterey BayMonterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean, along the central coast of California. The bay is south of San Francisco and San Jose, between the cities of Santa Cruz and Monterey....
and north of Santa Barbara
Uses
Many of California's Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribes traditionally used soaproot, which contains saponin
Saponin
Saponins are a class of chemical compounds, one of many secondary metabolites found in natural sources, with saponins found in particular abundance in various plant species...
, as a fish poison. They would pulverize the roots, mixing in water to create a foam, and then add the suds to a stream. This would kill or incapacitate the fish, which could be gathered easily from the surface of the water. Among the tribes using this technique were the Lassik, the Luiseño, the Yuki, the Yokut, the Chilula, the Wailaki, the Miwok, the Kato, the Mattole, the Nomlaki and the Nishinam
Nisenan
The Nisenan, also known as the Southern Maidu and Valley Maidu, are one of many native groups of the Central Valley. The name Nisenan, derives from the ablative plural pronoun nisena·n, "from among us"...
.
Chestnut (1902) describes a range of other uses of C. pomeridinaum var. pomeridianum, including as an antiseptic poultice, as soap, and the extract from roasted bulbs used as a glue in attaching feathers to arrows. The leaves, on account of their flexible and semi-succulent character, were used in the process of baking acorn bread, being used to wrap the dough, which was then baked among fire heated rocks.
The abundant, tough external fibers sheathing the bulbs of C. pomeridinaum var. pomeridianum were used by native peoples of California to craft brushes and combs.
In literature, reference to native uses of soaproot apply to principally to C. pomeridinaum var. pomeridianum; the other taxa in the genus were not utilized.