76 LILIACEAE (LILY FAMILY) 
the same length; style very short. Capsules bluntly oblong, 
three-celled, filled with fine brown seed, which is widely sown by 
the wind. (Fig. 40.) 
Means of. control 
Drainage of the ground, and a season or two of thorough culti- 
vation, are necessary in order to destroy the system of branching 
rootstocks. For small areas they may be grubbed out. 
DEATH CAMAS 
Zygddenus venendsus, S. Wats. 
Other English names: Poison Camas, Poison 
Sego, Hog’s Potato, Mystery Grass. 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and 
by bulbs. 
Time of bloom: May to June. 
Seed-time: June to July. 
Range: South Dalenta. ‘to British Columbia, 
southward to Nebraska, Utah, and California. 
Habitat: Shallow ravines, sides of foothills, 
upland pastures. 
Western stockmen, particularly the sheep 
growers of Wyoming and Montana, owe to 
this plant a loss of many thousands of dollars 
yearly. All parts of it are poisonous to all 
grazing animals, but cattle usually reject it 
because of its bitter taste; horses are even 
more particular; but sheep feed with little 
discrimination and are, besides, the stock most 
commonly kept on the high benchlands and 
foothills where the plant is most abundant. 
(Fig 41.) 
It springs from an elongated, ovoid, coated 
bulb, a half-inch or less in thickness, the 
stems six to twenty inches tall, slender and 
upright. Leaves very narrow and grass-like, 
deep green, with roughened margins and mid- 
rib, usually partly folded and with sheathing 
Fic. 41.— Death 
Camas (Zygadenus A I Bee Ge 
venenosus). X 4. base. Flowers greenish or yellowish white, in 
