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Camassia quamash

common camas

common camas

Habit Plants diurnal; 10–80 cm tall; bulbs solitary. Plants 20–80 cm tall.
Leaves

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

20–60 cm × 6–25 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 0–1.

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 distinctly bilateral;

tepals pale blue to deep blue-violet, 15–35 × 3–8 mm, withering separately;

veins 5–9;

anthers yellow to blue-violet to brown.

Fruits

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

positioned close to or distant from stem, often on slightly incurved pedicels, 9–17 mm.

Seeds

5–10 per locule.

5–10 per locule.

Camassia quamash

Camassia quamash ssp. maxima

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).

In or near wet springs, seeps on rocky bluffs, open mesic prairies, and oak savannas. Flowering Apr–Jul. 0–1600 m. Casc, CR, Est, WV. CA, WA; north to British Columbia. Native.

From its eastern Oregon counterpart, C. q. ssp. breviflora, western C. q. ssp. maxima differs in both its tepal venation and withering; both taxa range widely, yet their distributions are largely distinct with no known intergradation among populations.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 156
Susan Kephart
Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 157
Susan Kephart
Sibling taxa
C. cusickii, C. howellii, C. leichtlinii
C. quamash ssp. breviflora, C. quamash ssp. intermedia, 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. maxima
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