EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 



grandiflora, Smith), with clusters of blue, funnel- 

 shaped flowers like little blue lilies, is another 

 familiar species 

 common in fields 

 and grassy glades 

 from Central Cali- 

 fornia northward to 

 "Washington. Its 

 bulbs are best cook- 

 ed, as by slow roast- 

 ing in hot ashes, 

 which develops the 

 sweetness. 



But the liliaceous 

 bulb that has enter- 

 ed to the most im- 

 portant extent in- 

 to the menus both 

 of aborigines and 

 white pioneers is 

 the Camas or Qua- 

 mash — *'the queen 

 root of this clime," 

 as Father De Smet 

 puts it in his ^'Oregon Missions." It is a hand- 

 some plant when in flower, which is in early 



21 



