''Camassia'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of plants in the
asparagus family native to
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
. Common names include camas, quamash, Indian hyacinth, camash, and wild hyacinth.
It grows in the wild in great numbers in moist meadows. They are
perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
s with basal linear leaves measuring in length, which emerge early in the spring. They grow to a height of , with a multi-flowered stem rising above the main plant in summer. The six-petaled
flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanis ...
s vary in color from pale lilac or white to deep purple or blue-violet. Camas can appear to color entire meadows when in flower.
Taxonomy and species
Historically, the genus was placed in the lily family (
Liliaceae
The lily family, Liliaceae, consists of about 15 genera and 610 species of flowering plants within the order Liliales. They are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous, often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a fair ...
), when this was very broadly defined to include most
lilioid monocots.
[, in
] When the Liliaceae was split, in some treatments ''Camassia'' was placed in a family called Hyacinthaceae (now the subfamily
Scilloideae
Scilloideae (named after the genus '' Scilla'', "squill") is a subfamily of bulbous plants within the family '' Asparagaceae''. Scilloideae is sometimes treated as a separate family Hyacinthaceae, named after the genus '' Hyacinthus''. Scilloideae ...
).
DNA and biochemical studies have led the
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group to reassign ''Camassia'' to the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Asparagaceae
Asparagaceae, known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, '' Asparagus officinalis''. Those who live in the temperate ...
, subfamily
Agavoideae.
Species
The
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected pla ...
recognizes six species :
* ''
Camassia angusta''
(Engelm. & A.Gray) Blank. - prairie camas - southern
Great Plains
The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, a ...
+ mid-
Mississippi Valley
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...
(
TX OK LA AR MO KS IA IL IN)
* ''
Camassia cusickii''
S.Watson - Cusick's camas - northeastern
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
, west-central
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...
* ''
Camassia howellii
''Camassia howellii'', commonly known as Howell's camas, is a species of perennials endemic to western Oregon.
Discovered in 1889, ''Camassia howellii'' is now considered to be imperiled due to residential development, mining and grazing.Nat ...
''
S.Watson - Howell's camas - southwestern
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
* ''
Camassia leichtlinii''
(Baker) S.Watson - large camas, great camas -
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
,
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
, northern + central
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
,
Washoe County in
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
* ''
Camassia quamash''
(Pursh) Greene -
quamash
''Camassia quamash'', commonly known as camas, small camas, common camas, common camash or quamash, is a perennial herb. It is native to western North America in large areas of southern Canada and the northwestern United States.
Description
I ...
, Indian camas, small camas - western
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
(
BC AB), western USA (
CA OR WA NV ID MT WY UT)
* ''
Camassia scilloides
''Camassia scilloides'' is a perennial herb known commonly as Atlantic camas, wild hyacinth, ''
(Raf.) Cory - Atlantic camas, bear grass - eastern + Central North America from
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...
to
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, westward to
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
and north into
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
.
;formerly included
[
The name ''Camassia biflora'' was coined in 1969 for a South American species now known as '' Oziroe biflora.''
]
Synonyms
The term '' Camassia esculenta'' is a confusing one. Not an accepted name, it has been used twice, both for ''Camassia quamash'' and for ''Camassia scilloides''. Consequently, the reference to ''Camassia esculenta'' (Ker Gawl.) B.L.Rob. as a synonym for ''C. scilloides'' is deemed illegitimate
Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...
, while reference to ''Camassia esculenta'' (Nutt.) Lindl. is a non-accepted name (synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...
) for ''C. quamash subsp. quamash''. Hence the continuing horticultural usage without qualification is potentially confusing.
Cultivation and uses
Indigenous methods of cultivation
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are composed of many nations and tribal affiliations, each with distinctive cultural and political identities. They share certain beliefs, traditions and prac ...
engaged in active management and cultivation of blue camas. They used controlled burning to clear land and improve growing conditions. While blue camas plots occurred naturally in the Pacific Northwest, Indigenous peoples would maintain a plot through weeding, tilling, harvesting Camas bulbs, and replanting. Camas plots were harvested by individuals or kin-groups, who were recognized as a particular plot’s cultivators or stewards. Stewardship was typically lineage-based, and cultivation rights to a particular plot were fiercely guarded. Multiple generations would often harvest the same Camas plot. Plots have been recorded as possessing physical boundary markers, and there were social consequences for harvesting from a plot that was recognized as being maintained by a particular individual or kin-group. The camas bulbs were harvested with a pointed wooden tool, with the work of cultivation being done primarily by women.
Food use
''Camassia'' species were an important food staple for Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
and settlers in parts of the American Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
.
While ''Camassia'' species are edible and nutritious, the white-flowered deathcamas Deathcamas or death camas refers to several species of flowering plant in the tribe Melanthieae. The name alludes to the great similarity of appearance between these toxic plants, which were formerly classified together in the genus ''Zigadenus'', ...
species (which are not in the genus ''Camassia'' but in a number of genera in the tribe Melanthieae
Melanthieae is a tribe of flowering plants within the family Melanthiaceae. Molecular phylogenetic studies in the 21st century have resulted in a large-scale reassignment of many of its species to different genera; in particular the genus '' Zi ...
) that grow in the same areas are toxic, and the bulbs are quite similar in appearance. It is easiest to tell the plants apart when they are in flower.
The quamash was a food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is in ...
source for many indigenous peoples in western North America. Blue camas was harvested when in bloom, in spring or early summer. After being harvested the bulbs were pit-roasted or boiled. A pit-cooked camas bulb looks and tastes something like baked sweet potato
The sweet potato or sweetpotato ('' Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young ...
, but sweeter, and with more crystalline fibers
Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate ...
due to the presence of inulin in the bulbs. The eating of too many such baked bulbs – especially if undercooked – can cause excessive flatulence
Flatulence, in humans, is the expulsion of gas from the intestines via the anus, commonly referred to as farting. "Flatus" is the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels. A proportion of intestinal gas may be swallowed enviro ...
, due to their containing inulin and other oligosaccharides
An oligosaccharide (/ˌɑlɪgoʊˈsækəˌɹaɪd/; from the Greek ὀλίγος ''olígos'', "a few", and σάκχαρ ''sácchar'', "sugar") is a saccharide polymer containing a small number (typically two to ten) of monosaccharides (simple suga ...
. After cooking, the bulbs could be pounded into a paste and made into cakes.
Native American peoples who ate camas include the Nez Perce (Nimíipuu), Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations.
In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree o ...
, Kalapuya, Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot language, Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up t ...
, Yakama, and Coast Salish, including the Lekwungen or Songhees who collected camas in what is now Victoria, British Columbia, the Lekwungen name for which was Camosun, or "place to gather camas". The Kutenai called the camas "xapi" ( Ktunaxa). Camas bulbs contributed to the survival of members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gr ...
.
In the Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous 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. It is noted fo ...
, 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. Though the once-immense spreads of camas lands have diminished because of modern developments and agriculture, numerous camas prairies and marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found ...
es may still be seen today.
Ornamental use
This 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 dur ...
flower naturalizes well in gardens. The bulb grows best in well-drained soil high in humus
In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...
. It will grow in lightly shaded forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
areas and on rocky outcrop
An outcrop or rocky 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 superficia ...
s as well as in open meadow
A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...
s or prairies. Additionally it is found growing alongside stream
A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams ...
s and river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...
s. The plants may be divided
Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the ways that numbers are combined to make new numbers. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication.
At an elementary level the division of two natural numbe ...
in autumn after the leaves have withered. Bulbs should be planted in the autumn. Additionally the plant spreads by seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...
rather than by runners.
Place names
Many areas in the Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...
are named for the plant, including Camas Valley, Oregon; the city of Camas, Washington
Camas is a city in Clark County, Washington, with a population of 26,065 at the 2020 census. The east side of town borders the city of Washougal, Washington, and the west side of town borders Vancouver, Washington. Camas lies along the Washin ...
; Lacamas Creek in southern Washington; the Camas Prairie in northern Idaho
The Idaho Panhandle—locally known as North Idaho—is a salient region of the U.S. state of Idaho encompassing the state's 10 northernmost counties: Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, and Sho ...
(and its Camas Prairie Railroad); Camas County in southern Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...
; and Kamas, Utah.
Role in indigenous trade and culture
Camas was an important component of the diets of most indigenous groups located in the Pacific Northwest. However, not all indigenous groups harvested camas themselves. Instead, many relied on trade in order to procure it. Indigenous groups that lived in environments that suited camas production, such as the Coast Salish, developed networks of exchange in order to procure a variety of goods and foods, such as cedar bark baskets and dried halibut.
In North American Indigenous cultures, trade had economic as well as diplomatic functions, with ceremonies such as the potlatch
A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Scie ...
serving as a means to legitimize an individual’s rule and establish their status as a provider. Camas was frequently traded in large volumes for such occasions.
Theories of anthropogenic dispersal
As indigenous land-management techniques have been theorized as having had a significant impact on the maintenance of the Garry oak ecosystem, one of the primary ecosystems in which ''Camassia quamash'' grows, researchers have investigated the potentiality of anthropogenic
Anthropogenic ("human" + "generating") is an adjective that may refer to:
* Anthropogeny, the study of the origins of humanity
Counterintuitively, anthropogenic may also refer to things that have been generated by humans, as follows:
* Human i ...
transport through an investigation of the genetic structure of ''Camassia quamash''. Despite historical evidence for anthropogenic maintenance of camas plots and transportation through Indigenous trade networks, analysis of the genetic structures of ''Camassia quamash'' have not substantiated theories of anthropogenic dispersal. The distribution of ''Camassia quamash'' across the Pacific Northwest is most likely the result of postglacial migration. These results imply that the degree of anthropogenic dispersal of ''Camassia quamash'' that occurred was not of such a scale as to leave a marker in the plant’s genetic structure.
References
Further reading
* Brisland, Richard T. W. ''Camas processing or upland hunting : an interpretation of lithic scatters at High Prairie''. Calgary, Alb.: University of Calgary, 1992. Thesis (M.A.)
* Comber, Harold F.; Miller, Murray. ''Check list of the plants of the ''Camassia'' Natural Area : vascular plants''. regon Oregon Chapter, The Nature Conservancy, 1967
* Coville, Frederick V. (1897). The technical name of the camas plant. ''Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington'' 11: 61-65.
* Gould, Frank W. ''A systematic treatment of the genus ''Camassia'' Lindl''. Notre Dame, Ind.: University Press, 1942.
* Konlande, J. E.; Robson, John R. (1972). The nutritive value of cooked camas as consumed by Flathead Indians. ''Ecology of food and nutrition'' 2: 193-195.
* Maclay, Anne M. ''Studies of the life history of ''Camassia quamash'' (Pursh) Greene''. Pullman, Wash., State College of Washington (Washington State University), 1928. Thesis (M.S.)
* Rice, Peter M.; Toney, J. Chris.; Cross, Marcia Pablo. ''Rehabilitation of camas and bitterroot gathering sites: study plan''. amilton, Mont: Bitterroot National Forest: U.S. Forest Service 1996.
* Smith, Harriet L. ''Camas: the plant that caused wars''. Lake Oswego, Or.: Smith, Smith and Smith Pub. Co., 1978.
* Stevens, Michelle L. and Darris, Dale C
Plant Guide for Common Camas: Ethnobotany, Culture, Management, and Use
Plant Materials Technical Note No. 25. (June 16, 2000) U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, Portland, Oregon, 2000.
* Stevens, Michelle L. and Darris, Dale C
''Ethnobotany, Culture and Use of Great Camas (Camassia quamash ssp. quamash)''
Plant Materials Technical Note No. 23 (September 1999). U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, Portland, Oregon, 1999
* Storm, Linda
Patterns and Processes of Indigenous Burning
2000
* Statham, Dawn Stram. ''Camas and the Northern Shoshoni: a biogeographic and socioeconomic analysis''. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University, 1982.
* Thoms, Alston V. ''The northern roots of hunter-gatherer intensification: camas and the Pacific Northwest''. Pullman, Wash.: Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, 1989.
* Toney, J. Chris. ''Traditional plant restoration: restoration of camas & bitterroot gathering sites (phase I-year 1 progress report)''. amilton, Mont: Bitterroot National Forest: U.S. Forest Service 1997
External links
''Camassia''
from Flora of North America
at Washington State University
Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...
Camassia Natural Area (Oregon)
- Nature Conservancy
Camassia Slopes Preserve (North Carolina)
Nature Conservancy
from the National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...
''Camassia''
from the Washington Department of Transportation
from the U.S. EPA
Southeastern Rare Plant Information Network - SERPIN
''Camassia''
from the Native Plant Information Network
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1810294
Asparagaceae genera
Edible plants
Flora of North America
Agavoideae
Plants used in Native American cuisine
Root vegetables