Camassia quamash

Last updated

Common camas
Camassia quamash (Pursh) Greene.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Agavoideae
Genus: Camassia
Species:
C. quamash
Binomial name
Camassia quamash
Synonyms [2]
List
    • Anthericum quamash (Pursh) Steud. (1821)
    • Camassia leichtlinii var. watsonii M.E.Jones (1912)
    • Phalangium quamash Pursh (1813)
    • Quamasia quamash (Pursh) Coville (1898)

Camassia quamash, commonly known as camas, kwetlal, [3] small camas, [4] common camas, [5] common camash [6] or quamash, is a perennial herb. It is native to western North America in large areas of southern Canada and the northwestern United States.

Contents

Description

Camassia quamash is a perennial plant with a herbaceous character that has a wide a wide range of variation across its geographical range. [7] It is a monocot that has grasslike leaves, as typical of that group, that emerge from a persistent bulb. [8] [9] The bulb is of moderate size, 1 to 5 centimeters (1⁄2 to 2 in) in diameter. The bulbs do not frequently cluster together and their surface is black while the interior is white with layers like that of an onion. [7] [10]

The leaves very rarely number more than nine on a plant and range in length from 10 to 60 cm (4 to 24 in). In comparison to their length they are quite narrow, 4 to 20 millimeters in width. The upper surface of the leaves may or may not have a pale, waxy coating depending on the variety. [7] All the leaves spring from the base of the plant and the sturdy stem is leafless. [11]

The flowering stems in wild or cultivated plants can be up to 80 centimeters (2.6 ft), but may be as short as 20 cm (8 in). [7] [12] As the inflorescence does not have branches it is a raceme. [11]

The pale blue to deep blue flowers appear in late spring to early summer (May to June in their native habitat). Each of the radially symmetrical, star-shaped flowers [13] has six tepals, about 2.5 cm (1 in) across, and six stamens. [8]

The leaves and bulbs of the plant are similar to the toxic white-flowered meadow death-camas, a plant that is not in Camassia, but part of the death-camas genus ( Toxicoscordion ) and grows in the same areas. [14] [13]

Taxonomy

C. quamash subsp. maxima Camassia quamash 6374.JPG
C. quamash subsp. maxima

There are eight subspecies; [15]

Synonyms

The superseded name for Camassia quamash subsp. quamash, Camassia esculenta(Nutt.) Lindl., [16] should not be confused with the superseded name Camassia esculenta(Ker Gawl.) B.L.Rob., (nom. illeg.) for Camassia scilloides . [17]

Etymology

The genus name comes from the Nez Perce Indian name for this plant, and means "sweet". [13] Qém'es, a term for the plant's bulb, which was gathered and used as a food source by tribes in the Pacific Northwest, and were an important food source for the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). [13] The bulbs are or were harvested and pit-roasted or boiled by women of the Nez Perce, [8] Cree, and Blackfoot tribes.

Distribution and habitat

C. quamash subsp. maxima, Skagit County, Washington Camassia quamash 6394.JPG
C. quamash subsp. maxima, Skagit County, Washington

The species 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 and Wyoming.

Though the once-immense spreads of camas lands have diminished because of modern developments and agriculture, numerous camas prairies and marshes 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. [18] Both the Bannock and Nez Perce Wars began after Nez Perce became incensed at the failure of the US government to uphold treaties, and at settlers who plowed up their camas prairies, which they depended on for subsistence. [19] [20] [21] [22]

Cultivation

This bulb flower naturalizes well in gardens. The bulb grows best in well-drained soil high in humus. It will grow in lightly shaded forest areas and on rocky outcrops as well as in open meadows or prairies. Additionally, it is found growing alongside streams and rivers. The plants may be divided in autumn after the leaves have withered. Additionally, the plant spreads by seed rather than by runners.

Uses

Camas is grown as an ornamental plant. Even in the wild, large numbers of camas can color an entire meadow blue-violet.

Food

The bulbs of this Camassia species are edible and nutritious when roasted or boiled, [23] but are easily confused with those of the death-camas. Though the white death-camas flowers are very different; the bulbs are difficult to distinguish. [14] [13]

Camas has been a food source for many native peoples in the western United States and Canada. After being harvested in the autumn, once the flowers have withered, the bulbs are pit-roasted or boiled. [24] The latter produced a syrup. [25] A pit-cooked camas bulb looks and tastes something like baked sweet potato, but sweeter, and with more crystalline fibers due to the presence of inulin in the bulbs—an oligosaccharide responsible for the copious flatulence caused by excessive consumption of undercooked bulbs. Bulbs can also be dried and pounded into flour, which can be used for baking or as a thickener. [26] [27] Native American tribes who ate camas include the Nez Perce, Cree, Coast Salish, Lummi, and Blackfoot tribes, among many others. Camas bulbs contributed to the survival of members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–06).

Camas bulbs (and bannock made from them) are listed in the Ark of Taste. [28] [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nez Perce</span> Indigenous peoples of North America

The Nez Perce are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who still live on a fraction of the lands on the southeastern Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest. This region has been occupied for at least 11,500 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camas County, Idaho</span> County in Idaho, United States

Camas County is a county in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Idaho. The county seat and largest city is Fairfield. The county was established 107 years ago in 1917 by the Idaho Legislature with a partition of Blaine County on February 6. It is named for the camas root, or Camassia, a lily-like plant with an edible bulb found in the region, that Native Americans and settlers used as a food source. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,077, making it the second-least populous county in the state, after Clark County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Root vegetable</span> Plant root used as a vegetable

Root vegetables are underground plant parts eaten by humans as food. In agricultural and culinary terminology, the term applies to true roots such as taproots and tuberous roots as well as non-roots such as bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and stem tubers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cayuse people</span> Native tribe of present-day Oregon and Washington, US

The Cayuse are a Native American tribe in what is now the state of Oregon in the United States. The Cayuse tribe shares a reservation and government in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and the Walla Walla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The reservation is located near Pendleton, Oregon, at the base of the Blue Mountains.

<i>Camassia</i> Genus of plants

Camassia is a genus of plants in the asparagus family native to North America. Common names include camas, quamash, Indian hyacinth, camash, and wild hyacinth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camas prairie</span>

Camas prairies are found in several different geographical areas in the western United States, and are named for the native perennial camas (Camassia}. The culturally and scientifically significant of these areas lie within Idaho and Montana. Camas bulbs were an important food source for Native Americans.

Camas may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau</span> Regional culture in North America

Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, also referred to by the phrase Indigenous peoples of the Plateau, and historically called the Plateau Indians are Indigenous peoples of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, and the non-coastal regions of the Northwestern United States.

<i>Toxicoscordion venenosum</i> Western North American flowering plant

Toxicoscordion venenosum, with the common names death camas and meadow death camas, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is named for its well known toxic qualities, with both its common names and its scientific name referencing this. Because its nectar is also poisonous, it is mainly pollinated by the death camas miner bee, which specializes in collecting the toxic pollen for its young. It is native to western North America from New Mexico to Saskatchewan and west to the Pacific Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian ice cream (Canada)</span>

Indigenous ice cream, also known as sxusem, is a Canadian whipped confection made from soapberries and other various fruits; it has been eaten as a traditional dessert by many First Nations peoples. It has been suggested that it was first produced in the Interior Salish territory of British Columbia which was located in the upper basins of the Columbia and Fraser rivers, and included tribes such as the Columbia, Lillooet, and Shuswap among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahaptin</span> Ethnic group

The Sahaptin are a number of Native American tribes who speak dialects of the Sahaptin language. The Sahaptin tribes inhabited territory along the Columbia River and its tributaries in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Sahaptin-speaking peoples included the Klickitat, Kittitas, Yakama, Wanapum, Palus, Lower Snake, Skinpah, Walla Walla, Umatilla, Tenino, and Nez Perce.

<i>Camassia scilloides</i> Species of flowering plant

Camassia scilloides is a perennial herb known commonly as Atlantic camas, wild hyacinth, and eastern camas. It is native to the eastern half of North America, including Ontario and the eastern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malheur Indian Reservation</span>

The Malheur Indian Reservation was an American Indian reservation established for the Northern Paiute in eastern Oregon and northern Nevada from 1872 to 1879. The federal government discontinued the reservation after the Bannock War of 1878, under pressure from European-American settlers who wanted the land. This negative recommendation against continuing by its agent William V. Rinehart, led to the internment of more than 500 Paiute on the Yakama Indian Reservation, as well as the reluctance of the Bannock and Paiute to return to the lands after the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weippe Prairie</span> United States historic place

Weippe Prairie is a "beautiful upland prairie field of about two by three miles bordered by farmland made from cleared pine forests" at 3,000 feet elevation in Clearwater County, Idaho, at Weippe, Idaho. Camas flowers grow well there, and attracted native gatherers of the camas roots. It is the location in Idaho where the Lewis and Clark Expedition emerged from crossing the Bitterroot Mountains on the Lolo Trail and first met the Nez Perce tribe of Native Americans.

<i>Balsamorhiza sagittata</i> Species of flowering plant

Balsamorhiza sagittata is a North American species of flowering plant in the tribe Heliantheae of the family Asteraceae known by the common name arrowleaf balsamroot. Also sometimes called Oregon sunflower, it is widespread across western Canada and much of the western United States.

<i>Toxicoscordion paniculatum</i> Species of plant in the deathcamas genus

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, especially in the mountains and deserts of the Great Basin region west of the Rocky Mountains. It grows in many types of habitats, including sagebrush plateau, grasslands, forests, and woodlands.

<i>Camassia cusickii</i> Species of flowering plant

Camassia cusickii, common name Cusick's camas or Cusick's quamash, is a species of plant in the family Asparagaceae. It is native to parts of North America. C. cusickii originally appeared in horticultural journals in the late 1800s, but they have been sold and cultivated for about thirty years.

<i>Camassia howellii</i> Species of flowering plant

Camassia howellii, commonly known as Howell's camas, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae endemic to western Oregon.

<i>Camassia leichtlinii</i> Species of plant

Camassia leichtlinii, the great camas or large camas, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. This herbaceous perennial is native to western North America in British Columbia, Canada and California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bannock (Indigenous American food)</span> Type of bread

Bannock, skaan, Indian bread, alatiq, or frybread is now found throughout North-America, including the Inuit of Canada and Alaska, other Alaska Natives, the First Nations of the rest of Canada, the Native Americans in the United States, and the Métis.

References

  1. ↑ NatureServe (2024). "Camassia quamash". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  2. ↑ "Camassia quamash (Pursh) Greene". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  3. ↑ Corntassel, Jeff, and Cheryl Bryce (2012), "Practicing Sustainable Self-Determination: Indigenous Approaches to Cultural Restoration and Revitalization", The Brown Journal of World Affairs, 18 (2): 151–162{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Camassia quamash". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  5. ↑ Kozloff, Eugene N. (2005). Plants of Western Oregon, Washington & British Columbia. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. p. 410. ISBN   978-0-88192-724-5.
  6. ↑ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Ranker, Tom A.; Hogan, Tim (5 November 2020). "Camassia quamash - FNA". Flora of North America. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 Taylor, Ronald J. (1994) [1992]. Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary (rev. ed.). Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Pub. Co. p. 80. ISBN   0-87842-280-3. OCLC   25708726.
  9. ↑ "Common Camas Camassia quamash". Calscape. California Native Plant Society. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  10. ↑ Williams, Kim (1977). Eating Wild Plants. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Publishing Company. pp. 64–66. ISBN   978-0-87842-065-0 . Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  11. 1 2 Pavia, Jerry (2003). Rocky Mountain Wildflowers : Photos, Descriptions, and Early Explorer Insights. Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing. pp. 164–165. ISBN   978-1-55591-364-9.
  12. ↑ Brickell, Christopher, ed. (1999). New Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers (Third ed.). London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 513. ISBN   978-0-7513-0800-6 . Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Wiese, Karen (2013). Sierra Nevada Wildflowers : a Field guide to Common Wildflowers and Shrubs of the Sierra Nevada, Including Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks (Second ed.). Guilford, Connecticut: FalconGuides. pp. 22, 170. ISBN   978-0-7627-8034-1 . Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  14. 1 2 Pojar, Jim; MacKinnon, Andy, eds. (2004). Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast : Washington, Oregon, British Columbia & Alaska (Revised ed.). Vancouver, British Columbia: Lone Pine Publishing. pp. 108–109. ISBN   978-1-55105-530-5 . Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  15. ↑ World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  16. ↑ World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Camassia esculenta (Nutt.) Lindl.
  17. ↑ World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Camassia esculenta (Ker Gawl.) B.L.Rob.
  18. ↑ The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre, Brigham D. Madsen, foreword by Charles S. Peterson, University of Utah Press (1985, paperback 1995), trade paperback, 286 pages, ISBN   0-87480-494-9
  19. ↑ Clute, Willard Nelson (1907). The American botanist, devoted to economic and ecological botany, Volumes 11-15. W.N. Clute & co. p. 98.
  20. ↑ Mathews, Daniel (1999). Cascade-Olympic Natural History: a trailside reference. Raven Editions. p. 168. ISBN   978-0-9620782-1-7.
  21. ↑ Native American History: The Bannock War Retrieved 1 March 2008.
  22. ↑ Brimlow, George Francis. Harney County and Its Range Land, 1951, Binfords & Mort, Portland, Oregon, p. 102ff.
  23. ↑ Lyons, C. P. (1956). Trees, Shrubs and Flowers to Know in Washington (1st ed.). Canada: J. M. Dent & Sons. p. 196.
  24. ↑ Freedman, Robert Louis (1976). "Native North American Food Preparation Techniques". Boletín Bibliográfico de Antropología Americana (1973-1979). 38 (47). Pan American Institute of Geography and History: 131. JSTOR   43996285., s.v. Camas Salish
  25. ↑ Whitney, Stephen (1985). Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides). New York: Knopf. p.  595. ISBN   0-394-73127-1.
  26. ↑ Pieroni, Andrea (2005). Prance, Ghillean; Nesbitt, Mark (eds.). The Cultural History of Plants. Routledge. p. 34. ISBN   0415927463.
  27. ↑ Doherty, Craig A.;Doherty, Katherine M. Plateau Indians, Infobase Publishing, 2008, p. 42, ISBN   978-0-8160-5971-3
  28. ↑ Camas Bulbs, Ark of Taste, Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity
  29. ↑ Quamash Bannock, Ark of Taste, Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity
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