Camas root
| Camassia | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Indian camas (Camassia quamash) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Asparagaceae |
| Subfamily: | Agavoideae |
| Genus: |
Camassia Lindl. |
| Type species | |
|
Camassia quamash (Pursh) Greene |
|
| Synonyms | |
Camassia is a genus of plants in the asparagus family native to Canada and the United States. Common names include camas, quamash, Indian hyacinth, camash, and wild hyacinth.
It grows in the wild in great numbers in moist meadows. They are perennial plants with basal linear leaves measuring 8 to 32 inches (20 to 81 cm) in length, which emerge early in the spring. They grow to a height of 12 to 50 inches (30 to 127 cm), with a multi-flowered stem rising above the main plant in summer. The six-petaled flowers vary in color from pale lilac or white to deep purple or blue-violet. Camas can appear to color entire meadows when in flower.
Camassia species were an important food staple for Native Americans and settlers in parts of the American Old West. Many areas in the Northwest are named for the plant, including Camas Valley, Oregon; the city of Camas, Washington; Lacamas Creek in southern Washington,; the Camas Prairie in northern Idaho (and its Camas Prairie Railroad); and Camas County in southern Idaho. Kamas, Utah, is another.
While Camassia species are edible and nutritious, the white-flowered deathcamas species (which are not in the genus Camassia but in a number of genera in the tribe Melanthieae) that grow in the same areas are toxic, and the bulbs are quite similar. It is easiest to tell the plants apart when they are in flower.
The quamash was a food source for many native peoples in the western United States and Canada. After being harvested in the autumn, once the flowers have withered, the bulbs were pit-roasted or boiled. A pit-cooked camas bulb looks and tastes something like baked sweet potato, but sweeter, and with more crystalline fibers due to the presence of inulin in the bulbs. The eating of too many such baked bulbs - especially if undercooked - can cause excessive flatulence, due to their containing inulin and other oligosaccharides.When dried, the bulbs could be pounded into flour. Native American peoples who ate camas include the Nez Perce, Cree, Coast Salish, and Blackfoot, and Yakama among many others. The Kutenai called the camas "xapi" (Ktunaxa). Camas bulbs contributed to the survival of members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
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Wikipedia