Camassia is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of six species native to western North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, from southern British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 to northern California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, and east to Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 and Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

. Historically, the genus was thought to belong to the lily family (Liliaceae

Liliaceae

The Liliaceae, or the lily family, is a family of monocotyledons in the order Liliales. Plants in this family have linear leaves, mostly with parallel veins but with several having net venation , and flower arranged in threes. Several have bulbs, while others have rhizomes...

), sometimes narrowed down to the families Scillaceae or Hyacinthaceae, but DNA and biochemical studies have led the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group

Angiosperm Phylogeny Group

The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, or APG, refers to an informal international group of systematic botanists who came together to try to establish a consensus on the taxonomy of flowering plants that would reflect new knowledge about plant relationships discovered through phylogenetic studies., three...

 to reassign Camassia to the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Asparagaceae

Asparagaceae

Asparagaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots.In earlier classification systems, the species involved were often treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae...

, subfamily Agavoideae. Common names include Camas, Quamash, Indian hyacinth, and Wild hyacinth.

Camassia species were an important food staple for Native Americans and settlers in parts of the American Old West

American Old West

The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...

. Many areas in the Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

 are named for the plant, including the city of Camas, Washington

Camas, Washington

Camas is a city in Clark County, Washington, with a population of 19,355 at the 2010 census. Officially incorporated on June 18, 1906, the city is named after the camas lily, a plant with an onion-like bulb prized by Native Americans. At the west end of downtown Camas is a large Georgia-Pacific...

, Lacamas Creek

Lacamas Creek

Lacamas Creek is located within Clark County, Washington, United States, and flows approximately 12.5 miles from headwaters near Camp Bonneville to Lacamas Lake and Round Lake in Camas, and eventually into the Washougal River. Interestingly, geologists have concluded that the creek used to flow...

 in southern Washington, the Camas Prairie in northern Idaho

North Central Idaho

North Central Idaho is an area which spans the central part of the state of Idaho and borders Oregon, Montana, and Washington. It is the southern half of the Idaho Panhandle region and is rich in agriculture and natural resources. Lewis and Clark travelled throughout this area on their journey to...

 (and its Camas Prairie Railroad

Camas Prairie Railroad

Camas Prairie Railroad Company was a short line railroad in northern Idaho jointly owned and operated by Northern Pacific Railway and Union Pacific Railroad. The Camas Prairie Railroad was known as the "railroad on stilts" due to the many wooden trestles. In one five mile stretch, there were...

), and Camas County

Camas County, Idaho

Camas County is a county in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2000 Census, the rural county had a population of 991 . The county seat is Fairfield....

 in southern Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

.

Camas grow in the wild in great numbers in moist meadows; they are perennial plant

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

s with basal linear leaves measuring 8 to 32 inches (20–80 cm) in length, which emerge early in the spring. They grow to a height of 12 to 50 inches (30–130 cm), with a multi-flowered stem rising above the main plant in summer. The six-petaled flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s vary in color from pale lilac or white to deep purple or blue-violet. They sometimes color whole meadows.

Species

• Camassia angusta - Prairie Camas
• Camassia cusickii
  Camassia cusickii
  The Wild Blue Hyacinth, Camassia cusickii, is a wild flower plant that grows in North America. It belongs to the Lily family and has thus the distinctive linear leaves with parallel venation and flowers in parts of three...
  
  - Cusick's Camas (occurs in eastern Oregon)
• Camassia howellii - Howell's Camas
• Camassia leichtlinii - Large Camas, Great Camas (occurs west of the Cascade Mountains from British Columbia to the Sierra Nevada).
  • Camassia leichtlinii ssp. leichtlinii : Large Camas
  • Camassia leichtlinii ssp. suksdorfii : Suksdorf's Large Camas
• Camassia quamash - Quamash
  Quamash
  Quamash , also known as Small Camas, is a perennial herb. It is one species of the genus Camassia and is native to western North America in large areas of southern Canada and the northwestern United States, from British Columbia and Alberta to California and east from Washington state to Montana...
  
  , Indian Camas, Small Camas.
• Camassia scilloides
  Camassia scilloides
  Camassia scilloides is a perennial herb also known as the Atlantic camas and Southern Wild Hyacinth. It is native to the eastern half of North America...
  
  - Atlantic Camas, Bear grass (occurs in the eastern United States
  United States
  The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
  
   in North America. The habitat extends along the Atlantic states from Maryland
  Maryland
  Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
  
   to Georgia
  Georgia (U.S. state)
  Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
  
   and westward to Texas
  Texas
  Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
  
  . It also includes the upper midwest states of Michigan
  Michigan
  Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
  
   and Wisconsin
  Wisconsin
  Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
  
  .)

Cultivation and uses

Ornamental use
This bulb

Bulb

A bulb is a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases. The leaves often function as food storage organs during dormancy.A bulb's leaf bases, known as scales, generally do not support leaves, but contain food reserves to enable the plant to survive adverse conditions. At the center of the bulb is...

flower naturalizes well in gardens. The bulb grows best in well-drained soil high in humus. It will grow in lightly shaded forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

 areas and on rocky outcrop

Outcrop

An outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. -Features:Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial deposits are covered by a mantle of soil and vegetation and cannot be...

s as well as in open meadow

Meadow

A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...

s or prairie

Prairie

Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...

s. Additionally it is found growing alongside stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

s and river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

s. The plants may be divided

Division (horticulture)

Division, in horticulture and gardening, is a method of asexual plant propagation, where the plant is broken up into two or more parts...

 in autumn after the leaves have withered. Bulbs should be planted in the autumn. Additionally the plant spreads by seed

Seed

A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...

 rather than by runners

Stolon

In biology, stolons are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external skeletons.-In botany:...

.

Food use
The Quamash was a food

Food

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...

 source for many native peoples

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 in the western United States and Canada. After being harvested in the autumn, once the flowers have withered, the bulbs were pit-roasted or boil

Boil

A boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, infection of the hair follicle. It is always caused by infection by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an accumulation of pus and dead tissue...

ed. A pit-cooked

Earth oven

An earth oven or cooking pit is one of the most simple and long-used cooking structures . At its simplest, an earth oven is simply a pit in the ground used to trap heat and bake, smoke, or steam food...

 camas bulb looks and tastes something like baked sweet potato

Sweet potato

The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...

, but sweeter, and with more crystalline fibers

Natural fiber

Fibers or fibres are a class of hair-like materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to pieces of thread. They can be spun into filaments, thread, or rope. They can be used as a component of composite materials. They can also be matted into sheets to...

 due to the presence of inulin

Inulin

Inulins are a group of naturally occurring polysaccharides produced by many types of plants. They belong to a class of fibers known as fructans. Inulin is used by some plants as a means of storing energy and is typically found in roots or rhizomes...

 in the bulbs. When dried, the bulbs could be pounded into flour

Flour

Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...

. Native American tribes who ate camas include the Nez Perce, Cree

Cree

The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

, Coast Salish

Coast Salish

Coast Salish languages are a subgroup of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the territory that is now the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington state around Puget Sound...

, Lummi

Lummi

The Lummi , governed by the Lummi Nation, are a Native American tribe of the Coast Salish ethnolinguistic group in western Washington state in the United States...

, and Blackfoot

Blackfoot

The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....

 tribes, among many others. Camas bulbs contributed to the survival of members of the expedition

Exploration

Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...

 of Lewis and Clark (1804-1806).

Though the once-immense spreads of camas lands have diminished because of modern developments and agriculture, numerous Camas prairie

Camas prairie

The name camas prairie refers to several distinct geographical areas in the western United States which were named for the native perennial camassia or camas, including regions in the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington...

s and marsh

Marsh

In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....

es may still be seen today. In the Great Basin, expanded settlement by whites accompanied by turning cattle and hogs onto camas prairies greatly diminished food available to native tribes and increased tension between Native Americans and settlers and travelers.

Warning: While Camassia species are edible and nutritious, the white-flowered Deathcamas

Deathcamas

Zigadenus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melanthiaceae. As currently described in the research literature, it is monotypic, including only the Sandbog Deathcamas, Zigadenus glaberrimus...

 species (which are not the genus Camassia, but part of the genus Zigadenus) that grow in the same areas are toxic, and the bulbs are quite similar. It is easiest to tell the plants apart when they are in flower.

External links

• Flora of North America
• Camas Meadows at Washington State University
• Camassia Natural Area (Oregon - Nature Conservancy)
• Camassia Slopes Preserve (North Carolina - Nature Conservancy)
• Camas Prairie in Idaho
• Washington Department of Transportation Ecology information
• Native Plants of the Great Lakes
• Southeastern Rare Plant Information Network - SERPIN
• Native Plant Information Network