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Asparagaceae
Camassia
Camassia leichtlinii
Sustenance, native heritage, prairie blue.
- Family
- Asparagaceae
- Genus
- Camassia
- Native to
- Western North America
- Bloom season
- Spring
- Type
- Bulbous perennial
- Height
- 60–120 cm (2–4 ft)
- Sunlight
- Full sun to part shade
- Soil
- Moist, rich
- Water
- High in spring
- Hardiness
- 3–10
- Lifespan
- Long-lived perennial
Did you know
- Camassia bulbs were one of the most important food crops of Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest—roasted in earth ovens for 24–48 hours, they taste like molasses or sweet potato.
- Lewis and Clark survived on camassia bulbs during their crossing of the Bitterroot Mountains—Clark wrote that the slow-cooked bulbs caused 'considerable distress' but kept the expedition alive.
- Vast wild meadows of blue camassia once turned the Willamette Valley of Oregon into 'lakes of blue' so vivid that explorers described mistaking them for actual water from miles away.
- Native peoples managed camassia meadows for thousands of years with controlled burns—weeding out competing plants and preventing tree encroachment to maintain the meadows.
- There is a deadly look-alike: white-flowered death camas (Zigadenus) grows alongside true camassia and is fatally poisonous—diggers had to wait until flowering to safely identify the right bulb.
Color meanings
0
sustenance
1
heritage
2
wild abundance