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Camassia quamash

common camas

Cusick's camas

Habit Plants diurnal; 10–80 cm tall; bulbs solitary. Plants diurnal; 50–90 cm tall; bulbs closely clustered to form evident “colony” of 2–20 or more basal shoots.
Leaves

3–5, lanceolate to linear, 25–70 cm × 5–15 mm.

(7)10–20, broadly linear, 25–70 × (1)2–5 cm.

Inflorescences

nodes 3–45, with 2–5 or more flowers open at once, sterile bracts 0–2; most longer than pedicels, tan to blue;

pedicel-stem angle broad or less often narrow.

nodes 20–70, with 2–30 flowers open at a time, sterile bracts 0–7; most longer than pedicel, tan to blue.

Flowers

corollas bilateral, rarely radial;

tepals 10–35 × 3–5 mm, pale blue to deep blue-violet, initially withering individually or connivently but separating in fruit and persisting on stem;

veins 3–9.

corollas bilateral; radial or irregular, varying in symmetry on a single raceme;

tepals 15–35 × 3–5 mm, pale blue to blue-violet, withering separately, persistent along with old flowers;

veins 3(5).

Fruits

oriented away from or appressed to stem; ovoid-oblong, 15–25 mm.

erect, appressed to stem, oblong, 15–25 mm.

Seeds

5–10 per locule.

5–10 per locule.

Camassia quamash

Camassia cusickii

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Western North America. 8 subspecies; 6 subspecies treated in Flora.

Camassia quamash includes a confusing array of morphologically and geographically diverse subspecies. Differentiating them remains challenging, yet genetic data have revealed a detectable molecular signature between groups that grow “east” (breviflora, quamash, utahensis) and “west” of the Cascades (intermedia, maxima, walpolei). Taxa within these groups are still unresolved (Fishbein et al. 2010).

Open meadows, gentle to steep rocky slopes and basalt cliffs, full sun along wet seeps. Flowering May–Jun. 600–1800 m. BW. ID. Native.

Cusick’s camas is most readily distinguished from all other Camassia species in Oregon by its high basal leaf number (10 or more) and clonal habit.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 156
Susan Kephart
Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 155
Susan Kephart
Sibling taxa
C. cusickii, C. howellii, C. leichtlinii
C. howellii, C. leichtlinii, C. quamash
Subordinate taxa
C. quamash ssp. breviflora, C. quamash ssp. intermedia, C. quamash ssp. maxima, C. quamash ssp. quamash, C. quamash ssp. utahensis, C. quamash ssp. walpolei
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