''Toxicoscordion paniculatum'' is a species of flowering plant known by the common names foothill deathcamas, panicled death-camas, and sand-corn. It is widely distributed across much of the western

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, especially in the mountains and deserts of the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

region west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. It grows in many types of habitat, including

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an alph ...

plateau,

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

s, forests, and woodlands, etc. ''Toxicoscordion paniculatum'' is a perennial wildflower growing from a brown or black

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

up to 5 centimeters long by 3 wide. The stem grows up to 70 centimeters long. The leaves are linear in shape, measuring up to 50 centimeters long. Most of the leaves are at the base of the stem and there may be a few reduced leaves above. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is an open

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

of flowers, becoming dense at the tip. (The flower pictured here appears to be of the close relative ''

Toxicoscordion venenosum ''Toxicoscordion venenosum'', with the common names death camas and meadow death camas, is a species of flowering plants in the genus ''Toxicoscordion'', of the Melanthiaceae family. It is native to western North America from New Mexico to Saska ...

''; see Burke Museum external link for accurate descriptions.) The panicle contains up to 80 flowers, most of which are

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

; some flowers at the end of branches and near the base of the panicle are only

staminate The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

(male), or are sterile. Each flower has six

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s, the inner three being slightly larger than the outer, measuring about 3 to 6 millimeters in length. The tepals are cream-colored, each with a yellowish green gland at the base. The fruit is a capsule 1 or 2 centimeters long.Flora of North America, ''Zigadenus paniculatus'' (Nuttall) S. Watson, Botany (Fortieth Parallel). 343. 1871. Foothill death camas, sand-corn
/ref> This plant is

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...

to animals, but

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

generally avoid it because it is unpalatable.US Forest Service Fire Ecology
/ref> Cases of human poisoning by ingestion of the bulbs have been documented as well.Peterson, M. C. and G. J. Rasmussen. (2003). Intoxication with foothill camas (''Zigadenus paniculatus''). ''J Toxicol Clin Toxicol.'' 41:1 63-5.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentBurke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, ''Toxicoscordion paniculatum''
many color photos plus Washington State distribution map
Calphotos Photo gallery, University of California @ Berkeley, ''Zigadenus paniculatus''Wildflowers of the United States, Foothill Death Camas, Foothills Deathcamas, Panicled Death Camas, Sand-corn - ''Toxicoscordion paniculatum''
color photos

- color photos of several species {{Taxonbar, from=Q7157040 paniculatume Flora of the Western United States Flora of California Flora of the Great Basin Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Plants described in 1834 Flora without expected TNC conservation status