CAM ASS (Camassia esculenta, Lindl.). Flowers showy. 

 6-parted, deep blue to whitish, an inch or more in diameter, 

 borne in a loose raceme at the summit of a scape 1 to 2 feet 

 high. Leaves radical, numerous, and grass-like. It blooms 

 in summer and is abundant in damp meadows and swampy 

 places from Central California to Washington and east to 

 Idaho and Utah. 



There are several species of Camassia, most if not all having 

 edible bulbs. Those of C. esculenta were until recently an im- 

 portant item in the dietary of the Northwestern Indians, and 

 one of our Indian wars was caused by the encroachment of 

 white settlers upon the immemorial Camass meadows of the 

 Xez Perces. Pioneers of a few generations ago used to mar- 

 vel at the blue expanse of the wild Camass fields, sometimes 

 simulating lakes of clear water. The bulbs, resembling small 

 onions, are nutritious and well charged with sugar. Usually 

 they were dug in June or July and baked in heated pits after a 

 rather elaborate process, which developed the innate sweet- 

 ness; but often they were consumed raw, in which state they 

 are crisp and mucilaginous, but rather tasteless. Lewis and 

 Clarke in their journal speak of a feast tendered them by the 

 Indians, in which the Camass played a conspicuous part. 

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