Wavy-Leaf Soap Root Moon Blooms Mid-June |
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| Cabbage White Butterfly on Wavy-Leaf Soap Root. |
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| Spring-fresh leaves of the Soap Root are edible raw or steamed like spinach. |
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| The concentrated juice from its leaves can be used as a dye for skin tatooing. |
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| The root of this plant combined with water produces a soapy solution. |
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| Native Ohlone used the root as soap to wash themselves and their cooking baskets. |
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| They fashioned brushes from the coarse, bristle-like sheath of the root. |
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| And used these soap root brushes as household whisk brooms. |
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| They also slow-baked the root to rid it of its soapiness, then ate it like a potato. |
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| Wavy-leaf Soap Root blooms evenings in mid-June through July. |
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| Soap Root flowers only open during cool evening hours. |
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| Each blossom opens slowly, one petal at a time. |
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| As it opens, a slight "plink" sound is heard as each petal unfurls. |
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| The Soap Root depends on moths, bumble bees, and hummingbirds for pollination. |
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An insect alighting on this flower can't escape being daubed by pollen-laden pads. |
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| Soap Root flowers blooms just a few hours during a single evening before fading away. |
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| Look for Soap Root along trails throughout Santa Clara Valley. |
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| On heavily used trails, tops of exposed Soap Roots resemble tufts of fur. |
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Twilight along the Serpentine Trail, Calero County Park. For additional information, chick here for a trifold on the Soap Root. |
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