Addisonia 29 



(Plate 239) 



QUAMASIA ESCULENTA 

 Wild Hyacinth 



Native of central United States 

 Family Liuaceas Lii^y Family 



Scilla esculenta Ker, Bot. Mag. pi. 1754. 1813. 



Phalangium esculentum Nutt. (Ker, Bot. Mag. pi. 1574. as synonym. 1813) 



Gen. 1: 219. 1818. 

 Quamasia esculenta Raf. Am. Mo. Mag. 2: 265. 1818. 

 Camassia Fraseri Torr. Pacif. R. R. Rep. 2 4 : 176. 1855. 

 Quamasia hyacinthina Britton; Britt. & Brown, 111. PI. 1: 423. 1896. 

 Camassia esculenta B. L. Robinson, Rhodora 10: 31. 1908. Not C. esculenta 



Lindl. 1832. 



This genus was named from its Indian name quamash, sometimes 

 spelled camass. At least four species have been recognized. Most 

 of these have edible bulbs, and were used as food by the Indians, 

 particularly of the Northwest. Over a century ago Lewis and 

 Clark reported that camass bulbs formed an important part of the 

 aboriginal food supply. One species of Oregon has been reported 

 as disagreeable to taste and unfit for food. 



Nuttall in his "Genera of North American Plants" (1818) states 

 that he collected the species here illustrated on the banks of the 

 Huron River near Lake Erie in 1810, and it was from this locality 

 that plants were secured in 1896 for the collections of the New 

 York Botanical Garden, which supplied the material for our illus- 

 tration. Other collectors have since extended this range through 

 the Lower Great Lakes region and into the southern states. 



This very beautiful spring-flowering bulbiferous plant, popularly 

 known as "wild hyacinth," bears clusters of pale blue flowers on 

 long, slender, graceful stems. It is perfectly hardy and grows well 

 under cultivation in rather heavy soil, such as found in the rich 

 meadows of its natural habitat. The bulbs are best planted in the 

 fall and should need no further attention. They should be planted 

 three or four inches apart and from four to six inches deep. Used 

 for cut flowers, this plant possesses the advantage of opening flow- 

 ers successively along the stem for some time. 



The bulbs of the wild hyacinth are usually about one and one 

 half inches long and covered by a nearly black membranous coat. 

 The flower stalk grows from one to two feet tall and often bears 

 one or two short, narrow, thin, nearly colorless leaves. Basal 



