''Chlorogalum angustifolium'' is a species of flowering plant, known by the common name narrowleaf soap plant.

Distribution

It is native to the

Sierra Nevada foothills :''See Sierra Nevada for general information about the mountain range in the United States.'' The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. states of California and Nevada, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significant ...

and inner

North Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. Phy ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, and the mountains of southern

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

, where it grows in heavy, rocky soils in woodland and on grassy hillsides.

Description

''Chlorogalum angustifolium'' is a perennial wildflower growing from a fibrous

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs du ...

a few centimeters wide. It has narrow basal leaves only a few millimeters wide. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

may be up to 70 centimeters long and is composed of several ephemeral flowers which open in the evening and close by the following morning. Each has six

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s about a centimeter long which are white with yellow-green midveins. There are six

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s tipped with large yellow anthers. The fruit is a capsule 1 to 3 millimeters long.

Uses

The indigenous

Karuk people The Karuk people are an indigenous people of California, and the Karuk Tribe is one of the largest tribes in California. Karuks are also enrolled in two other federally recognized tribes, the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad R ...

of northern California used the soapy juice from the crushed bulbs of this plant as a

detergent A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with cleansing properties when in dilute solutions. There are a large variety of detergents, a common family being the alkylbenzene sulfonates, which are soap-like compounds that are m ...

for washing clothing.University of Michigan at Dearborn: Native American Ethnobotany of ''Chlorogalum angustifolium''
/ref>

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Chlorogalum angustifolium'' (narrowleaf soap plant, narrow leaved soaproot)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Chlorogalum angustifolium''USDA Plants Profile for ''Chlorogalum angustifolium''Flora of North AmericaUC Photos gallery — ''Chlorogalum angustifolium''
angustifolium Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Asparagaceae-stub