The History and Uses of Soap Lilies

Soap lilies were used for many things. They were very important plants to the tribes of southern California. Lily bulbs were used for food, soap, glue, and poison. The lily bulbs contain starch and are a source of carbohydrates. Parts of the lily, like the leaves and stems, were eaten or used as a die in tattoos. Since the flowers of the lily are night flowers and have short lives, the lily is a great means of identification when inflorescences are not available during much of the year.

A point of interest is how they dug up the flower bulbs of soap lilies. The lily bulbs can be twenty centimeters deep and really tricky to dig out of tough, sandstone or decaying granite with just a regular shovel as your only tool. Taking into account all the uses created from this plant, the lily bulbs must have been dug up in mass. Maybe the Indians dug out the bulbs right after the rainy season in the spring when the ground was wet and pliable. The long slender foliage come out after the first autumn rains and stayed for several months. Lily bulbs could be found throughout much of the year even when the flower shoots were not there.