Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: White Camas

Love the ring of tiny, green hearts (glands) that each flower has inside. "All parts of the Mountain Death Camas plant are poisonous from alkaloids more toxic than strychnine and can sicken livestock. Plants over-winter as a bulb that is very similar to the wild onion and a few settlers learned of its toxicity the hard way. Alkaloid poisoning is a terrible way to die!" www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/mountain-death-camas "Mountain Death Camas is also sometimes called Poison Camas, Poison Sego, Alakali Grass, White Camas, Wand Lily, and Death Camas. These common names elude to the poisonous compounds found in this lily. The scientific name elegans means elegant. It is a beautiful, flowing plant even though it its highly poisonous. The genus contains plants with alkaloids toxic to both man and livestock. Sheep are frequently affected, since they seem to eat the plants more readily than other animals do. Hogs are said to be immune to the poison. Poisoning usually occurs in early spring because the death camases appear before most other range plants and their succulent leaves are available. Make sure not to confuse this plant with the true Camas, which formed a stable food for Indians of the Northwest. The flowers are quite different, but Indians did occasionally mistake bulbs of the two, since both plants grow together in meadows. It is difficult to distinguish death camases from onions, sego lilies, fritillaries, and wild hyacinths when the edible plants are only a few inches high. However, a combination of leaf characters and a cross section of the bulbs or corms is diagnostic at any stage in the development of the plants." From Untamed Science. www.untamedscience.com/biodiversity/mountain-death-camas/ The day before yesterday, 27 July 2019, was such an enjoyable day, with a few lovely surprises. We had been invited to do a bio-blitz (i.e. list every plant, tree, bird, insect, fungi, etc. species) on the property belonging to Dennis Apedaile and family. This forested area is NW of Cochrane, reached by a beautiful road that was new to us. The night before the trip was SO hot indoors (no air-conditioning), I didn't get even one minute of sleep all night. The early morning started off with our first sighting - one of the neighbourhood Jackrabbits, seen when we were leaving our leader's house. The next sighting, and unfortunately only seen by me, came as a total surprise. We were driving along the highway when I spotted a black dog in a field. I was a bit surprised to see it wandering on its own. OMG, it's not a dog, it's a Black Bear!! We were going too fast and passed it before anyone else could see it. Wish I had thought about trying to get a photo - no time, anyway. Nine of us from Calgary took part in this bioblitz, along with three ladies from the Summer Village on Ghost Lake. We were also joined by about 12 members of Dennis & Charlotte’s family, their friends and neighbours. A fun, most enjoyable group of interesting people. Our group took our lunch with us, but we were encouraged to also help ourselves to the delicious food provided. The morning and part of the afternoon were spent on a slow walk along various forest trails on the Apedaile's acreage. We came across all sorts of wildflowers, the odd insect, and yes, we even found a few mushrooms, including Aspen Boletes. Birds were almost non-existent! I spotted a Hummingbird that flew to one of the feeders, a Black-capped Chickadee flitted about in the trees near the house, and someone noticed a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Everyone was thrilled to bits to suddenly notice something fairly small flying in all directions near a fire pit, that had a tangle of dead branches and a few pieces of wood piled up. It was a Little Brown Bat! After a few seconds, it flew into this pile, hid from view, and stayed there. When it was time to leave, we began walking towards our cars, when suddenly the wind became very strong and it started to rain. It didn't last long, but unfortunately, we had to make a very hurried departure. Thank you so much, Dennis and Charlotte, for letting us come and explore your wonderful property! Having you all come along with us made the visit even more enjoyable. Thanks, too, to good friends, Dorothy and Stephen, for driving four of us there and back. As always, so much appreciated.

This was one of the plant species we saw while exploring the land at the Rusty Bucket Ranch. I love the small, individual flowers, with the tiny, heart-shaped, green glands on each petal. "White camas (Anticlea elegans) is a native perennial herb that grows from a bulb. The plant can be found across most of Canada from British Columbia to New Brunswick and in parts of northwestern Canada. The plant contains several steroidal alkaloids, including zygacine, which can poison livestock and humans. White camas has caused poisoning in sheep and may have been involved in poisoning cattle. Ingesting the bulbs can also cause poisoning. This plant is considered to be about seven times less toxic than death camas (Zigadenus venenosus)." "It is not a grass (though its leaves are grass-like), but belongs to the trillium family, Melanthiaceae. It has white lily-like flowers and two-pronged, greenish-yellow glands on each petal (the shape of which can help in distinguishing it from other members of the genus)." From Wikipedia. On 14 July 2017, it was a hot day, but our bio-blitz of the Rusty Bucket Ranch, west of Calgary, started at 8:00 am, to catch the coolest part of the day. This was the first time we had been there and we had such a great morning. What a beautiful place and area! Thirteen of us gathered to explore part of the land belonging to Liz and Alan Breakey - 160 acres, mostly wooded, with many streams feeding into Bragg Creek. The gorgeous garden itself was full of bright, healthy plants. Once we were in the forest, we came across all sorts of wildflower species and even a few fungi and slime molds. We all met the challenges of small, hidden logs along the trails, lying in wait to trip anyone who was not paying careful attention. One of the last areas was a bog, where the small, partly hidden pools of water were difficult or impossible to avoid - I nearly lost a shoe in there, lol! On the final stretch back to the house, we caught sight of a distant buck with its new growth of antlers; also, a few of the sheep that the Breakey family raises. A really fun walk for us all, with all sorts of things of interest. Many thanks to Liz and Alan for inviting us to the Rusty Bucket Ranch to explore and list all species seen! Thank you, too, for the very warm welcome you gave us, and for the muffins, delicious lemon drink, and coffee! After the morning's hike, we all returned to the city and thoroughly enjoyed a BBQ lunch put on by our botany/birding friends, Dorothy and Stephen. I hadn't had a burger in years - and this one was so good! Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for all the time and effort you put into this. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon, chatting with friends and eating all sorts of 'goodies'. Happy to see the tiny Hummingbird that has been visiting your garden, and lovely to see the bright yellow American Goldfinch. It was quite windy, too, which felt wonderful on a hot day.

Macro shot of a small, individual flower of the White Camas, taken NW of the city on 21 July 2012. Several of these Lily-like flowers grow on a tall stem. "White camas (Anticlea elegans) is a native perennial herb that grows from a bulb. The plant can be found across most of Canada from British Columbia to New Brunswick and in parts of northwestern Canada. The plant contains several steroidal alkaloids, including zygacine, which can poison livestock and humans. White camas has caused poisoning in sheep and may have been involved in poisoning cattle. Ingesting the bulbs can also cause poisoning. This plant is considered to be about seven times less toxic that death camas (Zigadenus venenosus)." "It is not a grass (though its leaves are grass-like), but belongs to the trillium family, Melanthiaceae. It has white lily-like flowers and two-pronged, greenish-yellow glands on each petal (the shape of which can help in distinguishing it from other members of the genus)." From Wikipedia.

This is one of my favourite native wildflowers - White Camas. When I downloaded my photos from yesterday's day of botanizing at Sundre Natural Area (north west of Calgary) to my computer last night, and cropped this zoomed-in photo, I discovered there was a tiny spider hiding in there along with the gorgeous beetle. I have a better shot of the latter, showing its patterns, which I will eventually post. Don't you just love these rings of tiny green hearts? : ) "White camas (Zygadenus elegans) is a member of the lily family, and is commonly found in open areas and lightly wooded montane regions. Narrow, pale silver-green leaves at the base compliment the long, showy floral spike, which bears several individual creamy green six-petaled flowers. The bulb of this plant is poisonous, but not so much so as that of its relative, the death camas. Camas blooms from July through August." From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DwWhitecamus.jpg

White Camas, also known as Mountain Death Camas and Smooth Camas. One of my favourite wildflowers. Taken with my old Olympus C750 UZ camera on 30th June 2007.

These White Camas are one of my favourite wildflowers, especially when I look closely at a single white flower (even if it's not as sharp as it could be!). Taken with my old Olympus C750 UZ camera on 30th June 2007.