TJi.v FA^rIT.^' 



415 



16. QUAMASIA Rat. Am. Month. Mag. 2: 265. 1818. 

 [Cam.assia Lindl. Bot. Reg. 18: pi. 1486. 1832. | 

 Herbaceous plants with slender scapes, linear basal leaves, membranous coated bulbs, and 

 rather showy flowers in a simple terminal raceme. Pedicels jointed at the base of the flower. 

 in the axils of scarious bracts. Perianth-segments 6, distinct, persistent, 3-7-nerved. Stamens 

 6. on the base of the segments ; anthers versatile. Style filiform, its base persistent ; stigma 

 3-lobed. Capsule ovate, 3-angled, loculicidal. Seeds several in each cavity, black and shiny. 

 [From quamash, the Indian name.] 



A North American genus of about 5 species. Type species, Quamasia esciileiita Raf. 



Perianth-segments not connivent and twisted together over the ovary after anthesis; fruiting pedicels erect. 



Leaves 10-20 mm. wide; scapes usually solitary; bulbs edible; wet meadow plant. 1. Q. quamash. 



Leaves often 35 mm. wide; bulbs nauseous; plants growing on open hillsides. 2. Q. cusickii. ' 



Perianth-segments connivent and twisted together over the ovary after anthesis; fruiting pedicels spreading. 



Perianth-segments often 20 .25 mm. long; capsule oblong, 15-20 mm. long; seeds several in each cell. 



3. Q. leichtlittii. 

 Perianth-segments 12-15 mm. long: capsule sub-globose, 6-8 mm. long; seeds 2-3 in each cell. 



4. Q. Iwwellii. 



1. Quamasia quamash (Pursh) Coville. Common Camass. Fig. 1016. 



Plialaitgiiiin quamash Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 1: 226. 1814. 



Camassia esculenfa Lindl. Bot. Reg. 18: pi. 1486. 1832. 



Quamasia quamash Coville, Proc. Biol. See. Wash. 11: 64 

 1897. 



Quamasia ivalpolei Piper, Proc. Biol. Soc. \\'ash. 29: 81. 1916. 



Bulb broadly ovoid or globose, 15-30 mm. broad, 

 its coats usually black. Scape often rather stout, 2-6 

 cm. high, sometimes with 1 or 2 short linear scarious 

 leaves ; basal leaves linear, shorter than the scape, 

 paler on the upper surface ; raceme few to many- 

 flowered. 10-20 cm. long; pedicels curved upward 

 near the base becoming erect, in fruit, 10-15 mm. 

 long, shorter than the bracts ; perianth 10-25 miu. 

 long, dark bluish purple, the segments twisting sep- 

 arately after anthesis ; capsule oblong-ovoid, the 

 cells several-seeded. 



Mountain meadows, mainly Canadian Zone: British Colum- 

 bia to Montana. Ctah and the Coast Ranges of northern Cali- 

 fornia. Type locality: Weippe, Idaho. 



2. Quamasia cusickii (S.Wats.) Coville. 

 Cusick's Camass. Fig. 1017. 



Camassia cusickii S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 22: 479. 

 1887. 



Quamasia cusicki 

 64. 1897. 



Coville, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 11: 



-® 



Bulbs clustered, ovoid, 3-5 cm. broad, in- 

 edible, pungent and nauseous. Scapes stout, 

 few to several in a cluster 60-80 cm. high ; 

 linear, shorter than the scapes, deeply keeled, 

 glaucous above ; 25-35 mm. broad ; raceme 

 often 30 cm. long, rather densely many-flow- 

 ered ; perianth pale blue ; perianth-segments 

 irregular, 5 of them ascending, 1 deflexed, 15- 

 20 cm. long, mostly 5-nerved ; fruiting ped- 

 icels erect, about 15 mm. long, scarcely equal- 

 ling the bracts ; capsule oblong, obtuse. 



Open hillsides, Canadian Zone: Powder River 

 Mountains, northeastern Oregon, where it was origi- 

 nallv collected by Cusick at "4,000 to 6,000 feet alti- 

 tude." 



