Talk:Chlorogalum pomeridianum

A fact from Chlorogalum pomeridianum appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 10 July 2004. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the bulb of the Wavy-leafed Soap Plant can be used to wash your hair, to stun fish, to cure rheumatism and to make brushes?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2004/July.

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Could whoever keeps changing "commonest" to "most common" please go out and buy a dictionary? Both these forms are acceptable in English, and in this particular sentence using "commonest" expresses more clearly that "common" and "widely distributed" are both being put into the superlative, and that they are logically independent. seglea 06:54, 9 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Why has this page been shunted to its systematic name? We generally use common names for reasonably well-known plants, for a number of good-ish reasons. It's not that there are no arguments the other way, but we oughtn't to randomly move things aroudn without discussion at, e.g., WikiProject Tree of Life. There's no special case for moving this one - it has one dominant common name, which is unambiguous and regularly used. I'll move it back in a few days if no cogent reason appears here. seglea 23:06, 22 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm perfectly happy with it being listed under the scientific name (for reasons I explained at Wikipedia:WikiProject Plants#Plant article naming conventions, but what I want to know is why was the talk page moved without moving the article. I'd move the article, but (1) I'd seek consensus first, and (2) it would be a bit of work to change all the wording.--Curtis Clark 23:17, 22 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There seems to have been a glitch - I found it with the article moved but a talk page under the old name. All very odd. I agree about the work involved in changing the wording (one of the reasons for not doing a lot of changing of articles to systematic names) seglea 23:41, 22 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Found below 100 meters?[edit]

It would be interesting to know why a plant, Chlorogalum pomeridianum var. divaricatum, is only found below 100 meters elevation. It's easy to see why there might be a tree line at several thousand feet, but what's special about 100 meters? Curious minds, and all that. Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (talk) 00:58, 19 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wondering where Chlorogalum pomeridianum might be located in Washington State.[edit]

I was hoping to locate soaproot, for medicinal experiments, and emergency purposes. Our family, goes on long hikes and camping escapades. Soap root would be a great help if we were in need of food, or if we had become lost.

Soap Root can be used for fishing purposes, as it temporarily causes fish to lose their senses and float to the surface, where they can be grabbed easily. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.224.99.50 (talk) 18:00, 11 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Concern about Nomlaki name[edit]

I've certainly put indigenous names into articles about California plants, so I'm predisposed toward this. But (1) there's a lot of resistance to adding non-English names to articles (at the least, editors expect a tie-in to the subject more than just "my people call it _____"--see tamarind for an example, unless it has been purged lately). (2) when they are added, editors expect references, and (3) saying that the name only applies to var. pomeridianum is, without a reference, original research (I assume that the other two vars don't grow in the Nomlaki area). I think it would be much more appropriate, and less subject to reversion, to put indigenous names in the Uses section.--Curtis Clark (talk) 01:04, 31 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

We really need a clearer policy on the inclusion of non-English names than I can find in the English Wikipedia. Including under Uses where there is information about the use is fine, but bare mentions of names known only by speakers of languages other than English is, in my view, not appropriate. Peter coxhead (talk) 02:12, 31 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]