Common camas (Camassia quamash)
It’s been a bumper year for common camas (Camassia quamash) in the PNW!
This is one of my favorite flowers (is that true if I say it about everything?), and I’m not alone in that opinion. It has a long history of use by tribes across its range as an important food source (especially a winter food, as the bulbs keep well), notably in my area the Skagit, Salish, and Makah people. Camas was also grown as a cash crop by Salish for trade with the Nootka and Ditidaht tribes on what is now called Vancouver Island. It is inarguably an important species!
You can find camas growing in open, vernally moist areas, often areas that dry out during the summer. In my area, I typically see them on rocky balds which have little soil and are completely dry by the time fall rains begin.
References
Don Knocke and David Giblin, Camassia quamash (Seattle: Burke Museum Herbarium, 2022).
Native American Ethnobotany Database, Camassia quamash search, 2022.
