''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 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 U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and the mountains of southern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, 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 a short underground 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 duri ...

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

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

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 (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

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

Uses

The indigenous Karuk people 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 Cleanliness, cleansing properties when in Concentration, dilute Solution (chemistry), solutions. There are a large variety of detergents. A common family is the alkylbenzene sulfonate ...

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