ZYGADEXE (Zygadenus Fremonti, Michx.). Flowers star- 

 like, \ inch or so in diameter, white or fringed with green, the 

 6 spreading segments each with a greenish-yellow glandular 

 spot at the base; borne, few to many, in a raceme or panicle 

 at the summit of a stem 1 to 3 feet high. Leaves grass-like, 

 mostly basal, but a few short ones, sheathing at base, scat- 

 tered along the flower-stem. Widely distributed from San 

 Diego to Northern California, in the foothills of the Coast 

 Ranges, on sunny mesas, and sometimes in marshy meadows. 

 Blooms in March or April. 



This beautiful flower has a black sheep of a cousin, the poi- 

 sonous Z, venenosus, Wats., blooming in early summer in moist 

 situations from Central California to British Columbia, and 

 known as Death Camass. It may be distinguished from Z. 

 Fremonti by smaller flowers with stamens that equal or exceed 

 the perianth, and quite narrow leaves usually folded. The poi- 

 sonous part of Death Camass is the bulb, taken internally, 

 and as this is almost identical in size and appearance with the 

 edible Camass bulb and frequently grows in the same places, 

 cases of fatal human poisoning have not infrequently resulted. 

 Pigs, they say, digest Death Camass readily enough, and UKC 

 it, whence it is sometimes called Hog's Potato. 

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