The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links
Camassia quamash

common camas

small camas

Habit Plants diurnal; 10–80 cm tall; bulbs solitary. Plants 10–50 cm tall.
Leaves

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

10–30 cm × 7–20 mm, glaucous adaxially.

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.

sterile bracts 0–2.

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 variably bilateral, sometimes radial;

tepals 15–25(30) × 3–6 mm, pale blue to deep blue-violet, withering connivently and separating in fruit;

veins 3(5);

anthers usually bright yellow.

Fruits

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

erect on pedicels and positioned close to stem, 10–20 mm.

Seeds

5–10 per locule.

5–10 per locule.

Camassia quamash

Camassia quamash ssp. breviflora

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county 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).

Full sun in wet, marshy meadows, stream banks, ditches. Flowering May–Jul. 100–2300 m. BR, BW, Casc, ECas, Owy, Sisk. CA, ID, NV, WA. Native.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 156
Susan Kephart
Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 156
Susan Kephart
Sibling taxa
C. cusickii, C. howellii, C. leichtlinii
C. quamash ssp. intermedia, C. quamash ssp. maxima, C. quamash ssp. quamash, C. quamash ssp. utahensis, C. quamash ssp. walpolei
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
Synonyms Camassia quamash var. breviflora
Web links