cinths. During the early spring, when these plants are about 3 to 4 inches 

 high, they all look very much alike. Onions can be identified easily by crush- 

 ing the leaves between the fingers and noting the strong characteristic onion 

 odor, similar to that of the common garden onion. If the onion odor is not 

 present and if, upon cutting a cross section of the leaf, the midrib is distinctly 

 hollow, forming a hollow tube the length of the leaf, the plant is almost cer- 

 tainly a wild-hyacinth. Camas usually is in bloom at this early stage and, 

 because of its blue flowers, is not likely to be mistaken for deathcamas. 

 After the seeds of both camas and deathcamas are mature it is often difficult 

 to distinguish between them. The leaves fold up lengthwise in deathcamas, 

 while camas leaves remain flat. The mature capsules of deathcamas are 

 much smaller, more closely set upon the stem, and split along the partitions 

 separating the three cells, whereas the ripe capsules of camas split down the 

 midrib on the back of the three cells. The mariposas, including sego-lily, 

 are easily distinguished as they have but one or two basal leaves. 



Early western explorers frequently mentioned the poisonous deathcamases 

 and their likeness to camases, whose edible bulbs were used extensively as 

 food by the Indians. Despite that the Indians were familiar with the danger 

 in deathcamas, many cases of poisoning occurred among them. The Indians 

 believed that deathcamas bulbs possess medicinal value. Chemical analyses 8 9 

 have shown the presence of mixed alkaloids which hasten the heartbeat and 

 make it irregular, slow the respiration, cause convulsions, and have a powerful 

 purgative, emetic, and diuretic action ; also of an alkaloid called zygadenine 

 (CsBHfKiNOio) which behaves in general very much like the powerful heart- 

 depressant, veratrine (CsaHwNOn), 9 a poisonous substance (or group of sub- 

 stances) frequently occurring in plants of the bunchflower family, and appar- 

 ently does not cause convulsions. Additional toxic alkaloids have been 

 isolated from deathcamas by Prof. Jacobson of the Nevada Agricultural 

 College and others and the toxicological chemistry of these plants must still 

 be regarded as in the investigative stage. 



Deathcamases have a leafy or leafless stem varying in height from a few 

 inches to 4 feet. The plants are smooth (glabrous) with long, narrow, 

 grasslike leaves arising from the base. Sometimes the leaves and stems are 

 covered with a whitish bloom which rubs off easily. The flowers are greenish 

 white or yellowish in color, being set rather closely in terminal racemes or 

 panicles and are either perfect or have male and female flowers as well 

 (imperfect). The flower heads elongate as the plant matures. The six simi- 

 lar floral segments (perianth) are divided to the base and bear one or two 

 glands. These flower parts wither but persist on the plant until the seed 

 pod (capsule) dehisces and the seeds are dispersed. The six stamens are 

 either free to the base or attached to the petallike floral segments and are 

 about the same length as the segments. The styles are distinct to the base, 

 and the three-lobed and three-celled capsule splits from the top along the three, 

 partitions, releasing the numerous angled seeds. The plants have bulbs or 

 sometimes rootstocks (rhizomes). The bulbs have concentric coats like an 

 onion. Rydberg 10 states that, for consistency, Zygadcnus should be divided 

 into three genera: (1) Plants with a rootstock and two glands (Ziigadenux) ; 

 (2) plants' with a bulb and single gland, ovary wholly superior (Toxicoscor- 

 dion) ; (3) plants with a bulb and single gland, ovary partly inferior 

 (Anticlea). The majority of botanists, however, prefer to regard these char- 

 acters as of sectional or subgeneric weight only, and to consider Anticlea and 

 Toxicoscordion as synonyms of Zygadcnw*. 



Some authors deem Z. venenosus as synonymous with Z. grammcus, but the 

 consensus of opinion among leading botanists of today is that these should be 

 considered separate species. Z. chloranthus, Z. coloradensis, and Z. ylaucus 

 are regarded by most botanists as synonyms of Z. elcgatis. Z. douglasii is a 

 synonym of Fremont deathcamas (Z. fremontii) of California. 



* Heyl, F. W., Loy, S. K., Knight, H. G., and Prien, O. L. THE CHEMICAL EXAMINATION 

 OF DEATH CAMAS. Wyo. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. 94, 31 pp., illus. 1912. 



9 Loy, S. K., Heyl, P. W., and Hepner, P. E. SJYGADENINE. THE CKYSTALLIN ALKALOID OF 

 ZYGADENUS iNTERMEDius. Wyo. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. 101 : [89]-98. illus. 1913. 



10 Rydberg, P. A. SOME GENERIC SEGREGATIONS. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 30:271-281, 

 illus. 1903. 



