A member of the Lily family, known as Soap Plant.
SAPONARIA OFFICIANALIS
(Ind. Yu-look-ut-hish)
American Soapwort. Inhabits the woodlands of the lower coast regions. The juice extracted from the roots of this plant makes an excellent hair tonic and cleanser, giving the hair a beautiful, brilliant gloss and, as a shampoo, it exceeds most of the modern hair tonics which, in my opinion, are more or less injurious to the hair roots due to an excess of alcohol in the preparations. Blooming season: May to June.
Its leaves were also of much use in cases of pains of the spleen. They were ground into a pulp and applied as a poultice-plaster directly where the pain was, and kept there for from three to four hours.
BRODIAEA
(Ind. Meh-wahot)
Is an inhabitant of the lower coastal regions, and is one of the other plants serviceable for making an excellent shampoo for the hair, the bulb and flowers being used for the purpose. Blooms from March to May.
Protection against lightning.
CEANOTHUS DIVARICATUS and PINUS SABINIANA
(Ind. O-Oot) (Ind. Wa-at)
The California Lilac—Spanish Chaparral—an inhabitant of the mountain ranges, blooms like the common lilac and is very beautiful.
Attracting every nature lover, this gigantic shrub is possessed of a strange power, which up to the present has escaped attention, due to its having been kept secret among the Indians for centuries.