LILIACEAE 
Allium cernuum Roth — (Nodding onion) 
qwliwye?e (PB, AP, MSS, AV, CW) 
The bulbs of this common onion were frequently eaten. They 
were eaten raw or used for flavoring soups and meats, and appar- 
ently were not kept for winter use (Ad, RD, AP, JP, RS, CW). 
Allium douglasii Hook. — (Douglas onion) 
sehch (Ad) 
These mild and sweet onions were known only from the Hot 
Springs area of the Flathead Indian Reservation. They were eaten 
fresh or were dried, though they didn’t keep very long; they were 
sometimes eaten with Alectoria (RD). 
Brodiaea douglasii Wats. — (Brodiaea) 
silus (PB) 
It was not clear that this species was eaten. PB believed the bulb 
edible, but AV thought it poisonous. 
Camassia quamash (Pursh) Greene — (Camas) 
Uncooked: sxwe?li (Ad, 
LP, AP, JP, AV, CW) 
Cooked: ?itxwe?e (Ad, 
JP, AP, AV, CW) 
After bitterroot, camas was the most important food plant to 
the Flathead Indians. RD claimed that the Bigsam family con- 
sumed bout 8 gallons of dried bulbs each year, though in earlier 
times a greater quantity was certainly consumed. 
Camas bulbs were normally gathered just after the plant 
bloomed (RS, AV), from late June to early August, depending 
upon the elevation, and were found in moist meadows through- 
out the Northwest. Flatheads mostly gathered their camas from 
Camas Prairie (AP, JP RS, CW), Evaro Hill (JP), parts of the 
Bitterroot Valley (JP, RS), in the vicinity of Seeley Lake (RS), at 
Potomac (JP), in the Lower Jocko Canyon (Malouf, 1971), as 
well as several other sites. The bulbs found in Camas Prairie were 
