Camassia leichtlinii

Camassia leichtlinii, the great camas or large camas, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. This herbaceous perennial is native to western North America in British Columbia, Canada and California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, in the United States.

Description

A bulb plant. It grows 75-140 cm high and 10-15 cm wide. The leaves are narrow and strap shaped. The flowers are on long straight stems. The flowers colour varies. They can be white to violet or blue. The flowers are star shaped. They are 3-5 cm wide. The flowers are in rows along the upright stems.

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Root Edible Uses: Bulb - raw or cooked. The bulb is about 3cm in diameter, eaten raw it has a mild, starchy flavour, but a gummy texture that reduces the enjoyment of it somewhat. It is excellent when slow baked, however, developing a sweet flavour and making a very good potato substitute[183, 256, K]. The cooked bulb can also be dried for later use or ground into a powder and used as a thickener in soups or as an additive to cereal flours when making bread, cakes etc. The bulbs can be boiled down to make a molasses, this was used on festival occasions by various Indian tribes. One report says that the bulbs contain inulin (a starch that cannot be digested by humans) but that this breaks down when the bulb is cooked slowly to form the sugar fructose which is sweet and easily digested.

Traditional Uses

The bulbs were eaten baked or boiled. They can be eaten raw or used in pies. They can be dried and stored. They can be boiled down to molasses.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Medicinal Uses

None known

Known Hazards

The bulbs are edible, but must be baked at length. Traditionally, they were cooked in fire pits for at least three hours, and ideally for between one and three days. Caution should be taken not to confuse this species with the deadly meadow death-camas.

Distribution

It is frost hardy. It can grow in full sun or light shade. It needs humus rich and moist soil. The soil should not be waterlogged. It suits hardiness zones 3-9.

Where It Grows

Australia, Canada, North America, Tasmania, USA,

Cultivation

Plants can be grown by dividing the clump of bulbs. The bulbs are planted 10-15 cm deep and plants spaced 15-25 cm apart.

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame. The seed can also be sown in a cold frame in spring. It usually germinates in 1 - 6 months at 15°c, but it can be erratic. Sow the seed thinly so that it does not need to be thinned and allow the seedlings to grow on undisturbed for their first year. Give an occasional liquid feed to ensure that the plants do not become nutrient deficient. When the plants are dormant in late summer, pot up the small bulbs putting 2 - 3 bulbs in each pot. Grow them on for another one or two years in a cold frame before planting them out when dormant in late summer. Offsets in late summer. The bulb has to be scored in order to produce offsets.

Other Uses

None known Special Uses Attracts Wildlife Food Forest

Other Information

It is an important root crop.

Notes

There are 6 Camassia species. All Camass species are poisonous. Also put in the family Hyacinthaceae.

Also Known As

Camash, Indian hyacinth, Quamash

References (19)

• Beckstrom-Sternberg, Stephen M., and James A. Duke. "The Foodplant Database." http://probe.nalusda.gov:8300/cgi-bin/browse/foodplantdb.(ACEDB version 4.0 - data version July 1994) (As Qamasia leichtlinii)
• Bodkin, F., 1991, Encyclopedia Botanica. Cornstalk publishing, p 206
• Burnie, G.(Ed.), 2003, Annuals and Bulbs. The Gardener's Handbooks. Fog City Press. p 251
• Crawford, M., 2012, How to grow Perennial Vegetables. Green Books. p 154
• Cundall, P., (ed.), 2004, Gardening Australia: flora: the gardener's bible. ABC Books. p 292

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