RHH's photos with the keyword: camas

Common Camas is a beautiful prairie wildflower of the Pacific Northwest but was an important food plant as well for native Americans. It's sweet bulbs could be roasted or steamed and eaten or ground into a powder and used as a sweetener or flour. These were photographed near our home where it grows in abundance.

These are the flowers of Common Camas, a wildflower that grows near our home.

These are the buds and a flower of Common Camas, a wildflower of the Pacific Northwest. They grow in wet areas near our home and often cover whole fields with a blue blanket in the spring.

Camassia quamash was second only to salmon as a food source among the native Indian tribes of the northwest. In many cases families had their own areas which were handed down from generation to generation, and the bulbs, the edible part of the plant, were very carefully harvested with only the largest bulbs being taken. These flower buds were photographed in Washington Park near Anacortes, Washington.

A beautiful spring wildflower which was once an important food source for native Americans. The bulbs were harvested, roasted or boiled or dried and pounded into flower. These were photographed on Pass Island in Deception Pass, but we have seen them all over the Pacific Northwest, sometimes covering fields with their blooms.

Camassia quamash was second only to salmon as a food source among the native Indian tribes of the northwest. In many case families had their own areas which were handed down from generation to generation, and the bulbs, the edible part of the plant, were vary carefully harvested with only the largest bulbs being taken. They are still sometimes eaten today, but the following warning applies: "Death camas (Zigadenus venenosus) can be confused with edible camas bulbs and is toxic. Be sure of your identification of camas bulbs before eating them!"

This is called the Death Camas because all parts of the plant are poisonous both to people and to animals. It was photographed near the Mount Robson Vistor's Center.

A bank of Common Camas, (Camassia quamash) photographed along Old Highway 30 in the Columbia River gorge in Oregon. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2011/06/columbia-ri...