''Sapindus mukorossi'', commonly known as Indian soapberry, washnut, or ritha, is a species of tree in the family

Sapindaceae The Sapindaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1858 accepted species. Examples include horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee. The Sapindaceae occur in tempera ...

. It is a deciduous tree that grows in the lower foothills and midhills of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

at altitudes of up to . It is also native to western coastal

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, and

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

in India; as well as

southern China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

, and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

as known by its many indigenous peoples. It is tolerant to reasonably poor soil, can be planted around farmers’ homes,Forestry Nepal (2014). ''Sapindus mukorossi.'' Retrieved from http://www.forestrynepal.org/resources/trees/sapindus-mukorossi and one tree can produce of fruit per year.Poudel, K. L. (2011). Trade potentiality and ecological analysis of NTFPs in Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal. ''Himalayan Research Papers Archives'', 61 . Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1928/3300

Uses

The value of the tree mostly comes from its fruit, which can be used for many pharmacological and cleansing purposes.

Cleanser/insecticide

The soapnut contains the compound of

saponin Saponins (Latin "sapon", soap + "-in", one of), also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed ...

, which has natural cleansing properties, and therefore the soapnut can be used as a cleanser for hair, skin, and clothing. These saponins are also useful as

insecticide Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed to b ...

s, for purposes such as removing head lice off the scalp.

Surfactant

Methods of extracting the maximum amount of oil from existing oil reserves has become a scientific focus in a world that has become dependent on fossil fuels. Researchers have found that the Ritha fruit can be used in an

enhanced oil recovery Enhanced oil recovery (abbreviated EOR), also called tertiary recovery, is the extraction of crude oil from an oil field that cannot be extracted otherwise. EOR can extract 30% to 60% or more of a reservoir's oil, compared to 20% to 40% using ...

technique. More specifically, Chhetri, Watts, Rahman, and Islam (2009) found that extracts from the soapnut can be used as an organic surfactant to increase the mobility of oil from the fields. In addition, researchers have demonstrated the potential for the soapnut to be used as a natural surfactant for washing arsenic from soils that are rich in iron.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14530198 mukorossi Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of Indo-China Saponaceous plants