Toxicoscordion venenosum | |
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Toxicoscordion venenosum flowering in the Black Hills, South Dakota | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Liliales |
Family: | Melanthiaceae |
Genus: | Toxicoscordion |
Species: | T. venenosum |
Binomial name | |
Toxicoscordion venenosum | |
Varieties [2] | |
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Synonyms [2] [3] [4] | |
List
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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.
Toxicoscordion venenosum is a bulb plant 20–70 centimeters tall when flowering in the spring or early summer. The underground bulbs are egg-shaped ( ovoid ) and made of up of multiple layers protected by dried outer layers ( tunicate ) like an onion. [5]
The plant's leaves appear very early in the spring and are narrow. [6] Most of the leaves spring directly from the ground (basal leaves), though a few much smaller ones may attach to the flowering stem. [7] The length of the leaf blade is 12–50 centimeters long while only being 2–10 millimeters wide. [5] The leaves are sharply folded into a "V" shape along their length, quite unlike the leaves of wild onions, [8] with a ridge at the bottom of the fold ( keel ). [9]
The inflorescence usually does not have branches and is a raceme, but will sometimes have one or two branches near the base and be a panicle. [7] If a plant does have branches, they will be one tenth to one third the length of the stem. It may be as much as 20 centimeters long, or as short as 2 centimeters. There may be ten to fifty flowers on the flowering stem. The top of the flowering stem will be pyramidal in shape when blooming begins with smaller buds and immature flowers towards the top and open flowers towards the base. [5]
The flowers are off-white and resemble six pointed stars. [10] The petals and sepals are very similar to each other and so are often called tepals. [7] Together they are called a perianth and are 5–10 millimeters in diameter. [5] The outer three tepals are egg shaped (ovate) and strongly curved inward while the inner three are shaped more like a spear head (lanceolate) and are more yellow or yellowish-green than the outer three. Each flower has six stamens each as long or slightly longer than the tepals. [7] The bracts on the back of the flowers may be green or white and are 5–25 millimeters long. [5] Flowering may comence in April, May, June, or as late as July in its native habitat. [11] [12]
The fruit is a capsule 8–20 millimeters long and 4–7 millimeters wide. [5] The tepals persist into fruiting. [7] The seeds are 5–6 millimeters long and light brown in color. [9]
The closely related foothills death camas ( Toxicoscordion paniculatum ) has a very similar appearance, but with smaller flowers, more open clusters, and multiple flowers on each stemlet (a panicle). [13]
Toxicoscordion venenosum was given its first scientific name, Zigadenus venenosus, and described by Sereno Watson in 1879. [2] [15] The botanist Per Axel Rydberg proposed the new genus Toxicoscordion in 1903 and placed the species there. [2] Most sources in the 20th century continued to classify it in Zigadenus , however genetic research published in 2002 resurrected the genus Toxicoscordion. [16]
As of 2024 [update] this is the accepted name according to Plants of the World Online and World Flora Online. [2] [17] However, many sources such as the Flora of North America still list it as Zigadenus venenosus. [5]
Two varieties of this species are accepted. [2]
This variety was first described by Per Axel Rydberg as a species named Zigadenus gramineus in 1900. [3] However, it was generally recognized as a separate species until the 21st century. [18] This variety is differentiated by more often having branches on it flowering stems and the outer tepals being less curved (clawed) than in var. venenosum. It is found in the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, Canada, and the northern plains, much more widely spread than the other variety. [11]
The autonymic variety almost never has branches on its flowering stem, at most having just one branch. The outer tepals of the flowers are clawed and 5 millimeters long. [12] It it found on the west coast of North America from British Columbia to Baja California in Mexico. [19] [4] It is not found further east than Nevada, Idaho, or Utah. [12]
The genus name Toxicoscordion is derived from Greek and means "poison garlic". The species portion of its binomial name, venenosum, appropriately translates as "very poisonous". [8] In English it is often simply called "death camas", [20] a name also applied to other species in the genus. [21] More specifically it is known as "meadow death-camas" to distinguish it from other related plants. [22] The variety gramineum is sometimes called "grassy deathcamas". [23] The "camas" part of its name is due the resemblance of the bulbs to those of the edible Camassia flowers. [24] Other common names include "poison onion" and "poison camas". [25]
In the Northern Pomo language all members of the genus including this species are called "tsim’bu" meaning "harmful bulb". [26] Likewise in the Umatilla language from along the Columbia River this species is called "alapíšaš", but the related Toxicoscordion paniculatum and even Anticlea elegans may have also been called by this name. [27] In the Ktunaxa language of British Columbia it is called "nupqasaquǂ" ("nup-ka-sa-qush"). [28] In the Lushootseed language of South Puget Sound it is called "ba'q'a'". [29]
Toxicoscordion venenosum has a well deserved poisonous reputation. [20] The main toxic alkaloid contained in the plants is zygacine, but other esters of zygadenine develop in the plant as the seed pods ripen. [30] While they are not easily confused with other species while in bloom they can easily be mistaken for edible bulbs like those of the camas lily in the Pacific Northwest once the leaves and flowering stems have faded. [20] As few as two bulbs are sufficient to kill a fully-grown human, with the poisons not degraded by cooking. [25] The toxins also remain stable when dried and stored, with bulbs remaining toxic for two decades after collection. [31] The seeds and the bulbs are the most toxic parts of the plants. [7] A survivor of poisoning said of the experience, "My mouth got tingly, and later the sensation moved down my throat." [32]
Human poisonings are rare. Symptoms of poisoning are numerous. The first symptom is watering of the mouth followed by numbness of the lips and mouth. Other possible gastric symptoms include thirst, nausea, stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. Circulatory, nervous, and muscular symptoms may include a headache, muscular weakness, confusion, slow and/or irregular heartbeat, low blood pressure, below normal temperature, difficulty breathing, convulsions, or coma. In severe cases coma is followed by death. The onset of symptoms ranges from one to eight hours after consumption. A number of edible bulb species have been mistaken for meadow death camas including blue camas, wild onions, and mariposa lily. [33]
The plant is also deadly to livestock, with sheep being most commonly poisoned. [30] However, pigs are reported to vomit the plant and avoid being fatally poisoned. [34] The lethal dose of green plant material is between 0.6% and 6.0% of an animal's body weight. [35] In experiments with sheep it was among the most poisonous of members of its genus with just 0.4% of green material by body weight causing symptoms, close to the 0.2% of Toxicoscordion nuttallii . And material from T. venenosum var. gramineum was almost as equally fatal at just 0.6% compared with 0.5% for T. nuttallii. [36] As a plant develops towards flowering the levels of zygacine decrease in the plant. The plants tend to have higher levels of poison in dry locations and in years with less rainfall. [30]
Meadow deathcamas is found through much of western North America. In Canada it is found in three western provinces Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. In the United States it grows from the West Coast to Rocky Mountains with the exception of the state of Arizona. This includes California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. [2] It also grows in the Mexican state of Baja California. [19]
The meadow deathcamas grows in more open, sunny habitats. The variety venenosum grows in grasslands and open pine woodlands of the interior from 500 to 1300 meters. [12] The variety gramineum grows in well drained grasslands and coastal areas from sea level to as much as 2500 meters. [11] They prefer wet areas, but can grow in much drier habitats than common camas (Camassia quamash) such as on hillsides in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. [8] They may also be found in opening in coniferous forests and among the sagebrush of the interior. [9]
The nectar is also poisonous; controlled experiments have shown that honeybees can be fatally poisoned by the flowers, and it or its relative are suspected in a few cases of honeybee poisonings. [37] [32] The plant is visited by a specialist mining bee, the death camas mining bee ( Andrena astragali ), which is likely the only bee that can tolerate its toxins. [38] In turn the bee is an oligolege, a species that specializes in the pollen of only a few species of flower. The death camas mining bee specializes in meadow deathcamas and the closely related Toxicoscordion paniculatum . Seed production for the plant is also significantly increased by bees visiting the flowers. [39] Theories as to what advantages specialization and toleration of the toxicity of the nectar and pollen provide include that the lack of competitors for the food resources provided by the flowers and that, as with the monarch butterfly, ingesting toxic food protects the bees from predators and parasites by making them toxic. [32]
Though the death camas bee is the only bee that feeds upon death camas flowers, a fly species, Earomyia melnickae , was described in 2022 which was discovered feeding on the meadow death camas flowers. As of 2024 [update] it is unknown where or what the species may feed upon as a larva. Extensive searches were made on the bulbs in the area where the flies were discovered, but no signs of feeding or larvae were discovered. It is also unknown if they contribute to pollination of the flowers to any degree. [40]
As a bulb plant, it survives fires easily. Though plants that are actively growing will be consumed in a fire the bulb will survive and regenerate. When dormant the bulbs are apparently entirely unaffected by fires. They grow in a variety of habitats with different fire intervals, from as infrequent as more than 400 years between fires to as frequent as yearly fires in some ponderosa pine forests. [31]
When evaluated by NatureServe in 2015 it was found to be "Secure" at the global level (G5). They also found it to be secure in British Columbia, Montana, and Wyoming (S5) and "Apparently Secure" (S4) in the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. [1]
Though well aware of the poisonous nature of the plants, the indigenous Paiute people have made use of crushed bulbs as poultices for a range of ailments in an identical manner to Toxicoscordion paniculatum, which they called by the same name. It was used for burns, rattlesnake bites, rheumatism, and swellings. [41]
The naturalist Ira Noel Gabrielson dismissed it and all of its relatives except for Toxicoscordion fremontii as not having "charm enough to take up room in a garden when so many more beautiful things are available." [42] Despite this, the species is occasionally grown in wildflower meadows or perennial borders for its spring flowers in either full sun or partial shade. [43] Due to the toxic nature of it and all its relatives, caution is urged to avoid planting it where herbivores would have access. In the Manual of Bulbs from the Royal Horticultural Society it is listed as tolerating winter temperatures at least as cold as −15 °C (5 °F). [44] It is hardy in USDA zones 3b–9b. [43]
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.
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.
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.
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.
Anticlea elegans, commonly known as mountain deathcamas, elegant camas, or glaucous death-camas, is a trillium-relative in the flowering plant family Melanthiaceae. Three distinct subspecies are included Anticlea elegans subsp. elegans, the type subspecies, plus Anticlea elegans subsp. glauca and Anticlea elegans subsp. vaginata. Anticlea elegans subsp. vaginata is likely a result of a vicariance event at the end of the Pleistocene and the populations are genetically drifting apart. Glacial refugia in at least five US states have formerly hosted populations of Anticlea elegans subsp. glauca, though two are now extirpated. The species is native to most of North America, being absent from California and the Baja California peninsula, the deep southeastern United States, and the far north of Canada. Little is known about the species pollinators, with a small population in Idaho documented to be likely pollinated mostly by flies.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Stenanthium is a North American genus of flowering plants in the tribe Melanthieae of the family Melanthiaceae.
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.
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.
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.
Veratrum hybridum is a species of flowering plant in the Melanthiaceae known by the common names slender bunchflower and crisped bunchflower. Many publications use the synonyms Melanthium latifolium and Veratrum latifolium, but the "hybridum" epithet is 9 years older than the "latifolium," so Veratrum hybridum is now the accepted name.
Toxicoscordion nuttallii is a species of poisonous plant native to the south-central part of the United States.
Stenanthium leimanthoides is a poisonous monocot wildflower. It is either treated as a separate species to Stenanthium densum or as a synonym of that species. A common name is pine barren deathcamas.
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.
Leucojum vernum, commonly called the spring snowflake, St. Agnes' flower, and rarely snowbell among others, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae. It is native to central and southern Europe from Belgium to Ukraine. It is considered naturalized in north-western Europe, including Great Britain and parts of Scandinavia, and in the US states of Georgia and Florida. This spring flowering bulbous herbaceous perennial is cultivated as an ornamental for a sunny position. The plant multiplies in favourable conditions to form clumps. Each plant bears a single white flower with greenish marks near the tip of the tepal, on a stem about 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) tall, occasionally more.
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.
Andrena astragali, the death camas miner bee or death camas bee, is a species of miner bee in the family Andrenidae. It is found in North America. It specializes in feeding on the highly poisonous Toxicoscordion venenosum, the meadow deathcamas, and close relatives. It is quite likely the only bee that can tolerate the deathcamas toxin, zygacine.