Got White Camas?

This was originally post in May of 2012. I have the same conversations with visitors every year so am re-posting  for those that may have missed it.

Sunday a woman came on a beeline to me; clearly see had something on her mind. She had a Native Plant Steward hat on and I guessed correctly the question would have to do with plants and not all those nasty Yellow Island rules. She said "I decided to go straight to the source. You told me a couple years ago there was a white version of the edible camas. My friends say I'm crazy." This is similar to another question I get: "Do you have the white camas?"

Camas does indeed have two forms: great camas (Camassia leichtlinii subsp. suksdorfii) and great white camas (Camassia leichtlinii subsp. leichtlinii). The two subspecies are identical with the exception of flower color and yes, both are edible.The following shows the two flowers side-by-side.

But what happens when these two cross. I'm not an expert here but the following two photos show two very different possibilities, if in fact that is what happened.

The first possibility is purple petals outlined in white.

A second possibility is this very pale purple version.

So where does death camas (Zigadenus venenosus) fit in? When visitors ask if we have the white camas, this is usually what they mean. The following shows great camas and death camas side by side. The flowers are very different so when in bloom or seed, the species would be obvious.

However, not every plant blooms every year and the leaves and bulbs are nearly identical. So my question to you readers, how comfortable would you be harvesting from the following meadow after the flowers are gone?

Setting Fire to the Rain

When Adele sang Set Fire to the Rain, I'm pretty sure she wasn't singing about the weather. But the title seemed appropriate. After a week of absolutely fabulous spring weather, the forecast for the next week is rain and wind. Not to be deterred by a little inclement weather I headed out to set my own fire to the rain and enjoy the beauty of Yellow Island on this overcast, sometimes misty, drippy day that will be remembered as the day we couldn't see the annular eclipse.

The meadow is definitely fading but is still covered in flowers with more subtle colors; the faded reds of paintbrush (Castilleja hispida) and muted yellows of desert parsley (Lomatium nudicale) represent the valley between flower peaks two and three. From the top of Hummingbird Hill looking east,south and west, the scene is similar to the photo below.

Closeups of this combination are also very nice.

Camas and buttercups are mostly gone but the final burst of color will come from the bright yellow stoncrops (Sedum spathulifolium) on the rocks, the even brighter yellow of Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum) plus the white and sometimes pink of yarrow (Achillea millefolium).

Broadleaf stonecrop has been blooming for over a week but has yet to reach its peak. The rocks are covered in lichens, mosses and sedums that will only get more colorful over the next week.

With the breeze today stonecrop is a good plant to photograph because it doesn't blow around too much in the wind. Plus it is probably my second favorite flower to photograph after shooting stars. The following are a few groupings that caught my eye.

And finally, Douglas firs invading the meadow are usually pulled immediately after being found. But this one on the rocks with mosses, lichens, fescue and sedums will most likely be thinned by Mother Nature.

Almost forgot to mention that the roses (Rosa nutkana) started blooming this week. Just another reason to go out in the rain.

As my friends at NCI say to their students, there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. Get out and enjoy!

Photographing Plant Phenology

Several years ago I took the following photograph (on film no less) and it started me wondering how often can you see bud to seed on an individual plant with all the stages in between?  Shooting star, Dodecatheon pulchellum, I find one of the most photogenic flowers.  This particular specimen shows bud, flower first opening down, petals spreading wider as the flower angle changes, flower going horizontal before turing vertical with petals beginning to drop and finally petals gone.  It is missing the final stage of an actual seed pod.

When I looked at this photo later, I wished it weren't so fuzzy and a little more artistic. I have been searching for another such individual ever since. The search continues.

But what other species might this phenomenon occur where all stages of the plants flowering phenology can be seen on one individual plant. Clearly single flowered species like most fawn lilies, Erythronium oregonum, can't, but what about the multi-flowered chocolate lily, Fritillaria lanceolata?  I have seen buds and flowers in both the yellow and brown subspecies as illustrated below but never bud-flower-seed pod.

Enter a third member of the lily family, great camas, Camassia leichtlinii, highlighted in the last blog. Camas always has multiple blooms per stem and blooms open from the lowest to highest in sequence. When the middle buds have opened to flowers, the lower flowers have gone to seed while the top buds are still buds.

Other examples of this come from plant families as varied as cactus and roses.  Each of the following photos comes close but neither quite makes it to all stages.

Here the bud and flower of brittle prickly pear cactus, Opuntia fragilis, are obvious with the shriveled flower between but not really a seed pod yet.

Nootka rose, Rosa nutkana, also comes close to showing all stages but alas the rose hip can be seen developing but not the final stage. Three out of four stages: bud, flower, petal drop, but where's the hip.

Photographers give themselves all sorts of projects to stay motivated.  The great thing about this project is that it will never end. Plus it always keeps me looking and interested in the amazing diversity of the plant world.

Back to the shooting star - the following is the closest I've come in many years of searching, the first showing various stages of the bud, the second stages of the flower, but nether with seed pods etc.

The journey continues!

Why not Purple Island?

Every year I get the question "Why is it called Yellow Island?" The question that should be asked this time of year is "Why isn't it called Purple Island?"

What makes Yellow Island different from most other San Juan Islands are the native prairies. The prairies exist because Native Americans burned the island for millennia, possible since the last ice age. The island in essence co-evolved with a human presence. The purpose of the burning was to keep the understory in check so forbs could flourish. Great camas, Camassia leichtlinii, was a food staple in the Coast Salish diet and the second most heavily traded item among coastal indians, second only to salmon. Today camas is still a dominant species of the Yellow Island ecosystem.

The Nature Conservancy has burned two to three acres of Yellow every year since 2002. The following photos illustrate how camas dominates just about all areas of the island, especially a year or two after a burn.

The north side of the island was burned in 2006. This photo looking east to McConnell Island was taken in 2008. The photo below was taken the same year looking south, up the north side.

The fall of 2009 the west meadow was burned and the photo below was taken the following spring.

September of 2010 the east meadow was burned resulting in this 2011 photo.

Even areas of the island that are never burned are dominated by camas. A planted garden area at the top of the steps was totally overgrown with snowberry. In 1995 the steward removed the snowberry and was amazed the following spring when a bed of camas appeared. The following photo was taken on May 11 this year.

After years of taking camas photos, the question I always ask myself is "do I need another camas photo?" Then you see one in perfect light:

Or one with a bee landing:

Or one with a hummer nectaring:

Or one in overcast light saturating the colors:

And then I look back and say "well the bee photo had too much depth of field, that hummer was too fast and isn't quite sharp, could I find one on an overcast day with more flowers per stem ..."  There will be reasons to photograph camas for as long as I'm steward of Yellow (aka Purple) Island.

Blogger's day on Yellow

I have three friends that are active bloggers: Shann, Alex and Monika. Each has her own unique style and I thoroughly enjoy all three. To inspire myself to start a blog I invited the three of them with their respective partners to join me for an afternoon on Yellow Island with the requirement that each of them blog about it. So this being my first blog entry, it is about them prepping for their umpteenth entries.


When we left Friday Harbor the day was cloudy but calm. Today was one of the lowest tides of the year, -2.5 feet, so the easiest, safest landing point was the north side of the East Spit. Once ashore, Shann headed to the cabin to drop off gear while Monika and Keith headed over Hummingbird Hill. I walked the first part of the trail with Alex and Dan before leaving them to their own devices.  Back in the cabin I had a nice chat with Shann before setting her free to enjoy the island.


It was a day off for me but I couldn't help checking emails. Once caught up on those I headed out to see how the group was doing. Shann was settled into the middle of the trail on the west side observing the seals on Seal Rocks. I had just counted 30+ on the north end of the rocks. I continued up the Breezy Point Hill where I ran into Monika and Keith. I answered a couple plant questions before suggesting we go back to the East Spit where I could show them the naked broomrape and check the boat.

Naked broomrape (purple flower) parasitizing broadleaf stonecrop (yellow flower, red leaves)

Since leaving the boat, not only had the wind increased but it also rotated 180 degrees from being an easterly to a westerly. The boat was fine so we headed slightly off trail to a relatively large patch of naked broomrape, Orobanche uniflora. On the way back up the trail I showed Monika the difference between our two Lathyruses, Lathyrus nevadensis (Sierra Nevada pea) and Lathyrus japonicus (beach pea). 


Monika and Keith continued back over Hummingbird Hill and I headed back down to the broomrape with Alex, Dan, and Shann. The boat still looked fine as it was mostly sheltered from the WSW winds. 


We all headed back to the cabin where we had a late lunch while we enjoyed good conversation getting to know each other. We were a group of friends that knew each other at different levels and through different experiences but had a common love of the natural world. Now we are all a little closer.


It was a slightly bumpy ride back to Friday Harbor but all were experienced boat people and all went well.

Weatherside cabin from Hummingbird Hill the day before the bloggers arrived.