DESCRIPTION: This group consists of hardy, deciduous, spring-flowering bulbs, which arenative to the marshes and wet meadows of western North America. These plants are suitable for growing in meadows, woodlands, borders, among shrubs and beside water gardens. Camassias have several common names such as, Camass, Indigo Squill, Meadow Hyacinth, and Quamash. The name Camass or Quamash was given to the plants by the North American Indians who cooked boiled or roasted the bulbs for food. (However, all Camass bulbs and plants are poisonous unless cooked.) Camass bulbs produce clumps of slender green leaves, about a foot in length, and spikes of flowers in late spring. The flower stalks grow from 12 to 36 inches tall, depending upon the variety, and bear as many as 40, loosely clustered, star-shaped flowers, each about 2 inches wide. Camass bloom over a period of several weeks. C. cusickii (Cusick Camass) is found wild in Oregon. Its 2-foot-tall stalks are densely covered in pale, blue flowers. C. leichtlinii (Great Camass; Leichtlin Quamash) produces dark blue-violet flowers on stalks 2 to 3 feet tall. This species is found wild from British Columbia to northern California. C. quamash is the lowest growing and earliest flowering species having stems only 1 or 2 feet high. Its deep blue-violet flowers grow up to 2 inches across. C. scilloides (Wild Hyacinth) is native to prairies and rich grasslands from Georgia to central Texas. These bulbs vary in color from white to violet, but are usually pale lavender shades. This species is best seen when grown in clumps. The flowers have a delicate, sweet scent.
SPECIES: C. cusickii; C. leichtlinii & var. alba, semiplena, Blue Danube, Caerulea; C. quamash; C. scilloides.
Camassia is a genus of six species native to western North America, from southern British Columbia to northern California, and east to Utah, Wyoming and Montana. Historically, the genus was thought to belong to the lily family (Liliaceae), sometimes narrowed down to the families Scillaceae or Hyacinthaceae, but DNA and biochemical studies have led the APG II-group to reassign Camassia to the family Agavaceae. 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. Many areas in the Northwest are named for the plant, including the city of Camas, Washington, Lacamas Creek in southern Washington, the Camas Prairie in northern Idaho (and its Camas Prairie Railroad), and Camas County in southern Idaho.
Camas grow in the wild in great numbers in moist meadows; they are perennial plants 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 flowers vary in color from pale lilac or white to deep purple or blue-violet. They sometimes color whole meadows.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Agavaceae
Genus: Camassia
Links: Botany.com/Camas'sia
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