W160 

 (leaf 2) 

 CAMASES 



Quama'sia spp., syn. Camus' sia spp. 



This small North American genus of the lily family is composed of about six 

 species, which with a single exception are confined to the far West. The 

 northwestern Indians are reputed to have named these plants quamash, which 

 later was changed to camash and then camas. The plants are often called 

 blue camas, to distinguish them from the poisonous, greenish- or whitish- 

 flowered deathcamases (Zygadenns spp.). Other names include swamp-sego 

 and wild-hyacinth. Certain mountain and foothill ranges which are wet in the 

 spring are so blue with camas that the distant observer mistakes them for a 

 lake. This optical illusion is apparent only when the flowers are in bloom. 



The palatability of camases varies from fair to fairly good, occasionally good 

 for sheep. On the high summer ranges camases are little grazed because they 

 bloom, dry up, and disappear before the sheep are moved to those ranges. 

 Camases occasionally grow on sites too wet for sheep. If given a choice, horses 

 and cattle do not ordinarily graze camas, but they frequently eat these plants 

 along with other meadow forage. Camases are not objectionable when cured 

 in mixed native hay. 



The coated bulbs of Cusick camas (Q. cusickii) are said to be nauseating, 

 but the bulbs of all the other camases apparently are edible. Several species 

 of Quamasia have long been cultivated as ornamentals both in Europe and this 

 country. The long clusters of large, rich blue flowers are beautiful but fade 

 quickly. 



The camases are perennial herbs of the lily family, from coated bulbs. Their 

 stalks, leafless or with leaflike bracts, grow up to 2 feet in height. The long 

 narrow leaves rise from the base of the plant. The showy, blue, purplish, or 

 nearly white flowers, which are persistent after withering, are borne in long 

 terminal clusters and appear chiefly from May to early July. Each flower is 

 composed of two series of three similar, separate, and not united parts, or 

 segments (three sepals; three petals). The pollen-sacs of the six stamens are 

 attached by their centers to the supporting stalks and thus are freely swinging ; 

 they do not protrude from the flowers. The relatively large (often about 

 three-fourths of an inch long), more or less egg-shaped (ovoid) podlike fruit 

 (capsule) is three-angled, three-celled, and contains several shining black seeds 

 in each cavity. 



