Camassia quamash |
Camassia quamash ssp. maxima |
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common camas |
common camas |
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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 |
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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). |
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 | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Camassia quamash var. maxima | |
Web links |
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