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The common names soap plant, soaproot and amole refer to the genus Chlorogalum. They are native to western North America , with some species in Oregon but they are mostly found in California . Common names of the genus and several species derive from their use as soap .
Like all the soap plants, Chlorogalum pomeridianum is a perennial that grows from a bulb, which is brown, between 7 and 15 cm in diameter, slightly elongated, and covered in thick, coarse fibers. The leaves grow from the base of the plant, and can be from 20 to 70 cm long and 6 to 25 mm wide. [ 1 ]
The clear epidermal cells exist in a single layer and do not contain chloroplasts, because the onion fruiting body (bulb) is used for storing energy, not photosynthesis. [3] Each plant cell has a cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, and a large vacuole. The nucleus is present at the periphery of the cytoplasm.
Most plants have an epidermis that is a single cell layer thick. Some plants like Ficus elastica and Peperomia, which have a periclinal cellular division within the protoderm of the leaves, have an epidermis with multiple cell layers. Epidermal cells are tightly linked to each other and provide mechanical strength and protection to the plant.
The resulting mixture is known as soft soap [broken anchor], which serves as a precursor for hard soap production. After adding sodium chloride (a process known as salting out), the soap nucleus rises and separates. The water-soluble glycerin and unwanted fat residues remain in the solution (see also soap [broken anchor]).
Plants may bear either all bisexual flowers (hermaphroditic), both male and female flowers (monoecious), or only one sex (dioecious), in which case separate plants are either male or female flower-bearing. Where both bisexual and unisexual flowers exist on the same plant, it is called polygamous.
Plants of the World Online [9] includes the following accepted Infraspecifics: . S. saponaria var. saponaria (syn. S. marginatus Willd., S. thurstonii Rock) – Wingleaf soapberry [10] native almost exclusively to far south Florida in the United States but also occurs in an isolated area of coastal southeast Georgia.
The integration of the stimuli in plant cells is not fully understood, but the movement of the cell nucleus provides one example of a cellular process that underlies plant behavior, and highlights the importance of the cytoskeleton in solving spatial problems within the plant cell.