Common Camas

Common Camas or Indian Hyacinth, Camassia quamash was a very important food plant for the native tribes and for early settlers. The bulbs could be roasted or boiled and were supposed to taste something like a potato, and when dried could be ground for flour. A person had to know what he was about, however, since there is another plant that often grows with Camas called the Death Camas. The two plants are easy to tell apart when in flower but not so easy otherwise, and the Death Camas is so named for good reasons. These often grow in such abundance that whole fields are blue with them and such fields were "owned" and carefully tended by those who used the plant for food. This example was photographed on Whidbey Island on the grounds of the Au Sable Institute.