Common Camas

These are Common Camas, Camassia quamash, growing in a meadow at Catherine Creek in the Columbia River gorge. We were there two weeks ago and agreed that we had never seen such a display or so many of them. Camas bulbs were an important food source for the native Americans and it may be they dug them here at Catherine Creek. Interestingly we found among them the Meadow Death Camas (Toxicoscordion venenosum) which has very different flowers but similar-looking bulbs, and which is very poisonous and can cause death if mistaken for the edible Common Camas. There is a photo of the flowers of the Death Camas in the inset.