Camassia quamash |
Camassia quamash ssp. breviflora |
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common camas |
small camas |
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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 |
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Distribution | ||
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 | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Camassia quamash var. breviflora | |
Web links |
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