Toxicoscordion paniculatum

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Toxicoscordion paniculatum
Toxicoscordion paniculatum - My-Lan Le 01.jpg
Flowering in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Melanthiaceae
Genus: Toxicoscordion
Species:
T. paniculatum
Binomial name
Toxicoscordion paniculatum
Synonyms [2]
  • Gomphostylis paniculata (Nutt.) Raf. (1837)
  • Helonias paniculata Nutt. (1834)
  • Zigadenus paniculatus (Nutt.) S.Watson (1871)

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.

Contents

Description

Toxicoscordion paniculatum is a flowering bulb plant that grows 20–70 centimeters (8–28 in) tall when blooming. The bulbs are egg shaped , 1.8–4 centimeters tall and 1.2–3.5 cm wide wide. The bulbs are made up of multiple layers and do not clump together. [3] They are covered in a persistent papery coat that is dark brown to black in color. [4] [5]

Most of the leaves spring directly from the base of the plant at soil level (basal leaves), though they have some attached to the lower part of the flowering stem. The lower leaves are larger, 15–40 cm long and just 5–15 mm wide. [4] The leaves surround the stem, a characteristic called sheathing by botanists. [6] The leaves are arranged in three groups around the central axis of the plant. [7]

The flowers are densely packed on a panicle, an inflorescence that in this species has at least two branches below the main set of flowers. [4] The total number of flowers and buds ranges from ten to eighty. [3] The flowers are a flattened, very open bell that are white to light yellow-white in color. Each flower has six tepals, the outer three a wide egg shape and are not clawed or only barely. The inner three are shaped more like a spear head, 4–5 mm long with a claw less than 1 mm long. [4] The small glands at the base of the tepals is are somewhat heart-shaped and green in color. [8] [9] The six stamens are bright orange and equal in length or slightly longer than the tepals. [10] [4] Plants may flower starting in April and the last plants finishing by the end of June. [3]

The fruit is a dry capsule with three chambers. [11] Each capsule is 5–20 millimeters long and 3–8 mm wide. [3]

Though the flowers being in a panicle is often used as a way to distinguish Toxicoscordion paniculatum from the closely related Toxicoscordion venenosum , the book Vascular plants of the Pacific Northwest by Charles Leo Hitchcock and co-authors advises that the more pointed tepals and having bisexual and unisexual flowers on the same plant are more reliable. [12]

Taxonomy

The first scientific description of Toxicoscordion paniculatum was by Thomas Nuttall in 1834 with the name Helonias paniculata. This was followed by proposed moves to Gomphostylis in 1837 and to Zigadenus in 1871. Per Axel Rydberg proposed moving it and several other species to the new genus Toxicoscordion in 1903. [2] This classification was not widely accepted until 2002, when it was resurrected on the basis of genetic evidence. [13]

As of 2024 the classification as Toxicoscordion paniculatum is widely accepted, including by Plants of the World Online, [2] World Flora Online, [14] and the World Plants database. [15] However, it continues to be listed as Zigadenus paniculatus in many other resources like the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS database (PLANTS) and the Flora of North America. [16]

Names

The species name, paniculatum, refers to the flowers being in a panicle. [4] Toxicoscordion paniculatum is known by the common names of "foothill death camas" or "foothill deathcamas" in English for its habitat. [17] [11] It is also known less frequently as "panicled death camas", a translation of its scientific name. [18] Like many species in the genus, it is also simply called "death camas". [8] It is also called "sandcorn", [6] "sand corn", [9] or "sand-corn" for the tiny bulbils that surround a parent bulb. [19] Very rarely it is called "panicled zigandene", a variation on its former scientific name. [20]

Toxicity

Leaves emerging in the spring Toxicoscordion paniculatum leaves sprouting in spring from mature plant.jpg
Leaves emerging in the spring

Toxicoscordion paniculatum is infamous for its poisonous qualities in the western United States. [17] All parts of the plant are poisonous, people have even been poisoned by the flowers. However, the most poisonous part is the bulb. Humans that have mistaken the bulbs for those of wild onions or camas and eaten them have been fatally poisoned. [11] In 2003 eight people who mistook the bulbs for that of the edible sego lily ( Calochortus nuttallii ) were poisoned in Juab County, Utah. Six of them seriously enough to require hospitalization. [21] Horses and cattle tend to avoid the plant and are therefore less commonly poisoned than sheep. [7] Animals are most often poisoned when in pastures containing foothill death camas early in the spring before other plants begin to green up. [22]

Range and habitat

Toxicoscordion paniculatum, Carson Valley, Nevada Sand corn, Toxicoscordion paniculatum (33279109878).jpg
Toxicoscordion paniculatum, Carson Valley, Nevada

Toxicoscordion paniculatum grows in every state of the contiguous United States from the Rocky Mountains westward and into northern Mexico. [2] In the United States it found almost entirely west of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and New Mexico, while growing in a few scattered, isolated populations in Montana. To the west the foothill death camas grows in every county of Utah and Nevada while mainly growing in the southern portion of Idaho. [16] It is found in the drier eastern areas of both Washington state and Oregon. [20] In California it is found widely north of San Francisco Bay in inland areas of the Northern Coast Ranges and the Klamath Mountains and is found in the Sierra Nevadas from the north to the southern end of the range. [23] It is only found in the northern parts of Arizona. [16] In Mexico it grows in the states of Chihuahua and Sonora. [15]

Foothill death camas is a widespread, but uncommon species. [20] It is normally found scattered across landscapes, but is sometimes grows in dense colonies. Most often it grows on well drained sites in sandy, gravelly, or rocky soils, but is also found in wet loam or dry clay soils. [6] It is found in open, seasonally dry areas such as in ponderosa pine forests, in small clearings amid lodgepole pines, and on sagebrush steppes. [8] It is generally found at lower elevations than Anticlea elegans . [24]

Ecology

The most frequent visitor to its flowers it the death camas bee, but in some locations it is also frequently visited by the bee mimicking black-footed drone fly. [25]

Uses

Traditional uses

Though well aware of the poisonous nature of the plants, indigenous peoples including the Shoshone, Paiute, and Washoe have made use of crushed bulbs as poultices for a range of aliments. Generally used raw, they were used for rheumatism, sprains, limps, neuralgia, toothache, and swellings. They were used interchangeably with that of Toxicoscordion venenosum by the Paiute who called the two species by the same name. [26]

Cultivation

The species is occasionally cultivated for its spring blooming flowers. They are grown in well draining areas that are somewhat wet in the spring. The plants tolerate dry conditions making it preferred as a naturalizing plant in dry climates. Foothill death camas can also be intermingled with other bulb plants in perennial boarder gardens. It is hardy in USDA zones 3b–9b. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melanthieae</span> Tribe of flowering plants

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 Zigadenus (deathcamases) has been restricted to a single species, Zigadenus glaberrimus. Plants contain alkaloids, making them unpalatable to grazing animals; many are very poisonous to both animals and humans.

<i>Toxicoscordion fremontii</i> Species of flowering plant

Toxicoscordion fremontii, known as the common star lily or Frémont's deathcamas or star zigadene, is an attractive wildflower found on grassy or woody slopes, or rocky outcrops, in many lower-lying regions of California, southwestern Oregon, and northern Baja California.

<i>Camassia quamash</i> Plant species in the asparagus family

Camassia quamash, commonly known as camas, kwetlal, 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.

<i>Amianthium</i> Genus of plants

Amianthium is a North American genus of perennial plants growing from bulbs. It contains the single known species Amianthium muscitoxicum, known in English as fly poison from a literal translation of the Latin epithet muscitoxicum, and is noted for its pretty flowers and its toxic alkaloid content. While all parts of the plant are poisonous, the bulb is particularly toxic. The scientific epithet was given to it by Thomas Walter when he published his Flora Caroliniana in 1788.

<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.

<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.

<i>Anticlea elegans</i> Species of plant

Anticlea elegans, formerly Zigadenus elegans, is also known as mountain deathcamas, elegant camas or alkali grass. It is not a grass, but belongs to the trillium family, Melanthiaceae.

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, and the edible camases (Camassia), with which they also often share habitat. Other common names for these plants include deadly zigadene, hog potato and mystery-grass.

<i>Allium crispum</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium crispum is a species of wild onion known by the common name crinkled onion. It is endemic to California, where it grows along the Central Coast in the Coast Ranges and in the Santa Monica Mountains, often in clays and serpentine soils. It is a perennial herb that is typically found in the foothill woodlands and valley grasslands of California.

<i>Allium campanulatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium campanulatum is a species of wild onion known by the common name dusky onion or Sierra onion. This is a flowering plant native to the western United States from southeastern Washington and northern Oregon to southern California, and western Nevada. The dusky onion grows in foothills and mountains, especially in dry areas, such as chaparral habitats.

<i>Toxicoscordion exaltatum</i> Species of plant

Toxicoscordion exaltatum the giant deathcamas, is a North American flowering plant in the genus Toxicoscordion, reputed to be deadly poisonous. It is native to California, Oregon, and Nevada, where it can be found in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

<i>Chlorogalum angustifolium</i> Species of flowering plant

Chlorogalum angustifolium is a species of flowering plant, known by the common name narrowleaf soap plant.

<i>Anticlea</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants

Anticlea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melanthiaceae, tribe Melanthieae. Molecular phylogenetic studies in the 21st century have resulted in number of changes to placements within this tribe. Anticlea was long submerged into the genus Zigadenus; however its separate position has been confirmed. Some species were also moved from Stenanthium into Anticlea. Members of Anticlea may also be distinguished from other members of the former genus Zigadenus, the deathcamases, by the presence of narrow tepals with a single, conspicuous, bilobed gland. It also has a wider distribution, occurring in Asia and much of North and Central America, ranging south to Guatemala.

<i>Toxicoscordion</i> Genus of plants

Toxicoscordion is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melanthiaceae, tribe Melanthieae, first described as a genus in 1903. The genus is mainly distributed in the midwestern United States and western North America, with some species in western Canada and northern Mexico.

<i>Zigadenus</i> Genus of plants

Zigadenus is a genus of flowering plants now containing only one species, Zigadenus glaberrimus, the sandbog death camas, found in the southeastern United States from Mississippi to Virginia. Around 20 species were formerly included in the genus, but have now been moved to other genera.

<i>Odontostomum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Odontostomum is a monotypic genus of flowering plants containing the single species Odontostomum hartwegii, which is known by the common name Hartweg's doll's-lily. In the APG III classification system, it is placed in the family Tecophilaeaceae. It was formerly placed in the Liliaceae. It This wildflower is endemic to northern California, where it can be found in the inner coastal mountain ranges and the Sierra Nevada foothills. It grows in rocky clay and often serpentine soils in grassland and woodland habitat, sometimes near vernal pools. This is a perennial herb growing from an oval-shaped corm up to 3 centimeters wide deep in the soil. The curving, widely branching stem is up to about half a meter in maximum height with linear leaves up to 30 centimeters long sheathing the lower portion. The inflorescence is a raceme or panicle of several flowers on pedicels. Each flower has six white or yellowish tepals, the lower parts fused into a veined tube and the tips spreading and then becoming reflexed. At the center of the flower are six stamens and six staminodes in a ring around the gynoecium.

Toxicoscordion brevibracteatum is a species of flowering plant known by the common name desert deathcamas. It is native to Baja California, Sonora, and California, where it grows in sandy desert habitat among creosote and Joshua trees.

<i>Toxicoscordion nuttallii</i> Species of plant

Toxicoscordion nuttallii is a species of poisonous plant native to the south-central part of the United States.

Toxicoscordion fontanum, common name small-flower death camas, is a rare plant species known only from serpentine marshes in California. It is found primarily in the Coast Ranges from Mendocino County to San Luis Obispo County, with an additional report of an isolated population in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Kern County east of Bakersfield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zygacine</span> Chemical compound

Zygacine is a steroidal alkaloid of the genera Toxicoscordion, Zigadenus, Stenanthium and Anticlea of the family Melanthiaceae. These plants are commonly known and generally referred to as death camas. Death camas is prevalent throughout North America and is frequently the source of poisoning for outdoor enthusiasts and livestock due to its resemblance to other edible plants such as the wild onion. Despite this resemblance, the death camas plant lacks the distinct onion odor and is bitter to taste.

References

  1. ↑ NatureServe (2024). "Zigadenus paniculatus". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Toxicoscordion paniculatum (Nutt.) Rydb". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Schwartz, Fayla C. (5 November 2020). "Zigadenus paniculatus - FNA". Flora of North America. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Heil, Kenneth D.; O'Kane, Jr., Steve L.; Reeves, Linda Mary; Clifford, Arnold (2013). Flora of the Four Corners Region : Vascular Plants of the San Juan River Drainage, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. St. Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. pp. 633–635. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  5. ↑ McNeal, Dale W.; Zomlefer, Wendy B. (2012). "Toxicoscordion paniculatum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.)". Jepson eFlora. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 Dayton, William A. (1960). Notes on Western Range Forbs: Equisetaceae Through Fumariaceae. Washington, D.C.: United States Forest Service. pp. 53–54. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  7. 1 2 Welsh, Stanley L. (1986). Flowers of the Canyon Country. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. p. 17. ISBN   978-0-87480-486-7 . Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 Benoliel, Doug (2011). Northwest Foraging : The Classic Guide to Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Washington: Skipstone. p. 191. ISBN   978-1-59485-366-1 . Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  9. 1 2 Carville, Julie Stauffer (1989). Lingering in Tahoe's Wild Gardens : a Guide to Hundreds of the Most Beautiful Wildflower Gardens of the Lake Tahoe Region. Chicago Park, California: Mountain Gypsy Press. p. 108. ISBN   978-0-9622378-6-7 . Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  10. ↑ Briscoe, Alan K. (1979). Cooking With Wild Plants : How to Recognize and Prepare Edible Wilderness Plants of the Rocky Mountains. Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers. p. 30. ISBN   978-0-88290-091-9 . Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 Schmutz, Ervin M.; Hamilton, Lucretia Breazeale (1979). Plants That Poison : An Illustrated Guide for the American Southwest. Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Press. pp. 60–61. ISBN   978-0-87358-193-6 . Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  12. ↑ Hitchcock, Charles Leo; Cronquist, Arthur; Ownbey, Marion; Thompson, J.W. (1955). Vascular plants of the Pacific Northwest. Vol. 1: Vascular Cryptogams, Gymnosperms, and Monocotyledons. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. pp. 814–815. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  13. ↑ Zomlefer, Wendy B.; Judd, Walter S. (2002). "Resurrection of Segregates of the Polyphyletic Genus Zigadenus s.l. (Liliales: Melanthiaceae) and Resulting New Combinations". Novon. 12 (2): 299–308. doi:10.2307/3392971. ISSN   1055-3177 . Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  14. ↑ "Toxicoscordion paniculatum (Nutt.) Rydb". World Flora Online . Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  15. 1 2 Michael, Hassler (16 June 2024). "Synonymic Checklist and Distribution of the World Flora. Version 19.3". World Plants. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  16. 1 2 3 Zigadenus paniculatus, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Profile, 24 June 2024
  17. 1 2 Shaw, Richard J. (1995). Utah Wildflowers : A Field Guide to Northern and Central Mountains and Valleys. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. p. 52. ISBN   978-0-87421-170-2 . Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  18. 1 2 Robson, Kathleen A.; Richter, Alice; Filbert, Marianne (2008). Encyclopedia of Northwest Native Plants for Gardens and Landscapes. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN   978-0-88192-863-1 . Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  19. ↑ Balls, Edward K. (1962). Early Uses of California plants. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 70. ISBN   978-0-520-00072-8.
  20. 1 2 3 Turner, Mark; Gustafson, Phyllis (2006). Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. p. 70. ISBN   978-0-88192-745-0 . Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  21. ↑ Peterson, Michael C.; Rasmussen, Grant J. (January 2003). "Intoxication with Foothill Camas ( Zigadenus paniculatus): CASE REPORT". Journal of Toxicology: Clinical Toxicology. 41 (1): 63–65. doi:10.1081/clt-120018272.
  22. ↑ Howard, Janet L. (1993). "Zigadenus paniculatus". Fire Effects Information System. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  23. ↑ "Toxicoscordion paniculatum". Calflora. Berkeley, California: The Calflora Database. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  24. ↑ Nelson, Ruth Ashton; Blaue, Tom (1976). Plants of Zion National Park : Wildflowers, Trees, Shrubs, and Ferns. Springdale, Utah: Zion Natural History Association. p. 62. ISBN   978-0-915630-00-4 . Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  25. ↑ Tepedino, V.J. (1981). "Notes on the reproductive biology of Zigadenus paniculatus, a toxic range plant". Great Basin Naturalist. 41 (4): 428–429. ISSN   0017-3614 . Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  26. ↑ Train, Percy; Archer, W. Andrew; Henrichs, James R. (1957). Medicinal uses of plants by Indian tribes of Nevada (Revised ed.). Beltsville, Maryland: Plant Industry Station. pp. 99–100. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
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