Common Name: Smallflower Soapplant

General Information

Hooveria parviflora is a perennial plant growing from a bulb that can be 4 - 7cm in diameter. It produces a cluster of leaves around 10 - 20cm long and 3 - 9mm wide and a flowering stem around 30 - 90cm tall[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food.

Known Hazards

The bulb contains saponins. Although poisonous, saponins also have a range of medicinal applications and many saponin-rich plants are used in herbalism (particularly as emetics, expectorants and febrifuges) or as sources of raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. Saponins are also found in a number of common foods, such as many beans.
Saponins have a quite bitter flavour and are in general poorly absorbed by the human body, so most pass through without harm. They can be removed by carefully leaching in running water. Thorough cooking, and perhaps changing the cooking water once, will also normally remove most of them. However, it is not advisable to eat large quantities of raw foods that contain saponins.
Saponins are much more toxic to many cold-blooded creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish and make them easy to catch[].

Botanical References

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Range

South-western N. America - southwest California., northern Baja California

Habitat

Dry open areas of coastal sage scrub; at elevations from sea level to 800 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Habit	Bulb
Height	0.60 m
Pollinators	Insects
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Succeeds in any reasonably good well-drained soil[, ]. Prefers a rich well-drained moisture retentive soil[]. Tolerates partial shade[]. Dislikes dry soils according to one report[] but plants grow in dry soils in the wild[].
Plants are frost hardy but they come into new growth in the autumn and so need to be grown in a warm sheltered position, especially in colder areas of the country[].

Edible Uses

Bulb - cooked[, , ]. A slow baking will remove any soapiness in the taste. The bulbs can be very large and are up to 7cm in diameter[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - sow spring or summer 2mm deep in a peat/sand mix. Germination usually takes place within 1 - 6 months at 15°c, but it can be slow and erratic. Sow the seed thinly so that the seedlings do not need to be thinned and grow them on in the pot for their first year of growth, giving an occasional liquid feed o ensure that they do not become mineral deficient. When dormant, pot up 3 young bulbs per pot and grow them on for at least another 2 years before planting them out into their permanent positions in the spring[].
Division of offsets when the bulb dies down in late summer. Larger offsets can be planted out direct into their permanent positions but it is best to pot up the smaller bulbs and grow them on for at least a year in the greenhouse.