sapindus saponaria

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

Sapindus saponaria
    n 1: evergreen of tropical America having pulpy fruit containing
         saponin which was used as soap by Native Americans [syn:
         {China tree}, {false dogwood}, {jaboncillo}, {chinaberry},
         {Sapindus saponaria}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Soapberry tree \Soap"ber`ry tree`\ (Bot.)
   Any tree of the genus {Sapindus}, esp. {Sapindus saponaria},
   the fleshy part of whose fruit is used instead of soap in
   washing linen; -- also called {soap tree}.
   [1913 Webster]

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