640 



CAMASSIA 



CAMASSIA 



6 thread-like filaments, filiform style, and 3-angled, 

 3-valved, several-seeded caps. Five or 6 species in 

 the temperate regions of W. N. Amer. from Cent. 

 Calif, to Brit. Col. and east to Texas and Ark. They 

 have resemblances to Scilla, but are much handsomer. 

 The bulbs produce no offsets unless wounded. All the 



756. Camassia Cusickii. (fls. 



species vary greatly in width of Ivs., size and number 

 of fls., so that definite figures mean little. The large 

 bulb and broad bluish lys. of C. Cusickii, the heavy 

 St., regular fls., and twisted old segms. of C. Leicht- 

 linii, the irregular fl. and drooping segms. of C. Quamash, 

 and the time of flowering of C. Howellii, are good gen- 

 eral characters to distinguish them. 



Camassias are natives of rich meadows, very wet in 

 winter and spring but dry in summer. Water often 

 stands on the surface at flowering time. While the very 

 best success can perhaps be attained by giving them a 

 rather heavy soil with abundant moisture in the early 

 season, they are most amenable to cultivation and 

 thrive in any loam (only avoiding too rank manures), 

 and they are perfectly hardy. They have been thor- 

 oughly tested throughout the region from Illinois east. 

 Plant in early fall, from 3 to 4 inches apart and 3 to 6 

 inches deep, and do not disturb thereafter. As cut- 

 flowers, they are excellent as they open in long succes- 

 sion. Seeds grow readily, but from three to four years 

 are required to make flowering plants. 



Cfcsickii, Wats. Fig. 756. Bulbs very large (weigh- 

 ing 4-8 ozs.) : Ivs. numerous, broad, glaucous, somewhat 

 undulate (15 in. long by 1J^ in. wide): st. often 3 ft. 

 high: fls. 30^-100, very pale delicately blue; segms. 

 spreading, crinkled at base, faintly 3-5-nerved. Ore. 

 G.F. 1:174 (adapted in Fig. 756). The very large 

 bulb and broader and more numerous Ivs. easily dis- 

 tinguish this species. Very easily grown. 



Quamash, Greene (C. esculenta, Lindl.). COMMON 

 CAMASS. Fig. 757. This species varies greatly; some 

 forms are low and slender, others 2-3 ft. high, stout and 

 many-fld.; it can be distinguished by the irregular per- 

 ianth in which 5 segms. are more or less on one side and 

 1 on the other: Ivs. %in. broad or less: fls. 10-40, varying 

 from almost white to intense ultramarine in the varieties; 

 segms. 3-5-nerved and a little longer than the stamens, 

 narrow and channeled at the base; pedicels not exceed- 

 ing the fls.: caps, ovate-oblong, obtuse, transversely 

 veined. Calif, to Utah and north to Brit. Col. B.R. 

 1486. F.S. 3:275. Gn. 46:338 and p. 339. Bulb 

 cooked and eaten by the Indians. The fls. vary to 

 white. The large ultramarine form is the one in the 

 trade. The withered segments fall down about the 

 pedicel irregularly. 



Leichtlinii, Wats. Stout, often 3 ft. or even more in 

 height: fls. white, cream-colored, blue or purple, nearly 

 regular; stamens and style ascending; segms. broad and 

 flattened at the base, usually 5-7-nerved: caps, oblong- 

 ovate, emarginate, obliquely veined. The withered 

 segms. of the perianth twist about the caps, like 

 bonbons; this is an infallible distinctive mark of the 

 species. C. Leitchlinii is not common, but is distributed 

 from Mendocino Co., Calif., to Brit. Col. B.M. 6287 

 (as C. esculenta var. Leichtlinii, Baker). In Men- 

 docino Co., a clear blue form grows rarely in mountain 

 meadows. In the Umpqua Valley, Ore., the type is 

 clear cream approaching white. In the same region 

 and farther north, a very large deep blue or purple 

 form is found, while in Brit. Col., the cream-colored 

 form again appears but is rare. At their best, the sts. 

 are stiff and heavy, the fls. large and many, and the 

 masses of bloom approach the Eremurus in beauty and 

 are even finer in separate fls. C. Leichtlinii is the finest 

 of all camassias. Several color forms are described, as 

 var. atrovioldcea, deep purple, and others. 



HSwellii, Wats. Bulb rather small: Ivs. few, 1 ft. 

 long and less than M m - wide: st. often 2 ft. high, many- 

 fld., with spreading pedicels twice or more the length 

 of the linear 

 bracts: fls. pale 

 purple, opening in 

 the afternoon, the 

 segms. J^in. long, 

 3-5-nerved; pedi- 

 cels longer than 

 the fls.: caps, 

 small, broadly 

 ovate and very 

 obtuse. S. Ore. 

 Intro, by Pilking- 

 ton & Co., 1892. 



esculenta, Rob- 

 ins. (C. Fraseri, 

 Torr.). Scape 12- 

 18 in. high: Ivs. 

 keeled : fls. light 

 blue, smaller than 

 in C. Quamash; 

 segms. 3-nerved ; 

 pedicels mostly 

 longer than fls.Pa., 

 west and south. 

 B.M. 1574 (as 

 Scilla esculenta) . 



Var. angusta 

 (C. angusta, 

 Hort.). Very slen- 

 der, and Ivs. nar- 

 rower ( J^in . wide) : 

 fls. smaller, H or 

 J^in. long. La. 

 and Ark. to Texas. 

 CARL PURDY. 



