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?
White camas is death camas (do not eat the white flowering camas as it is poisonous from what I've been told at tribal gatherings)
ReplyDeleteIve eaten purple camas bulbs cooked, quite Delicious