c̓abid

(Lushootseed)

Kēlek

(Quinault)

Common Camas

Camassia quamash

By Bryn

Description:

Common camas is a perennial flower in the lily family. It has light blue to purple flowers that grow in large clumps towards the top of the stem, and it can reach up to almost 28 inches tall when fully grown. Grass green, blade-like leaves grow from the base of the plant, the leaves can be about as tall as the main stalk. Camas bulbs are one of the most valuable parts of this species, they somewhat resemble an onion and can be found a few inches underground. Pojar and MacKinnon 108).

Photo 2015 © Ron Bockelman.

Traditional Uses:

Camas is a very significant and important plant to indigenous tribes in the Northwest. Camas is also a culturally fundamental food staple. After harvesting in the summer, some ways this plant is traditionally eaten are roasting the bulbs in large rock pits for over 24 hours, making them soft, caramelized, and sweet. Then they can be eaten as a part of many meals. The camas bulbs can be made into lots of different dishes such as, pies, puddings, or soups, and are often used as a sweetening agent for other foods as well. Indigenous tribes also used camas for making cough medicine, and utilizing the stems and leaves to make mattresses. (Deur 175-177).

Growing Information:

You can find common camas growing in grassy areas with moist acidic soil like prairies, or meadows. (Kruckeberg and Chalker-Scott [Page 184]).

Common camas thrives in high sunlight and is best planted in fall or winter when the soil is moist and rich in nutrients. You can grow camas from the seeds or the bulbs of the plant. Bulbs and seeds are both gathered in the summer, though the seeds are collected from pods and bulbs are dug up from the ground. When planting camas bulbs they should be spaced roughly 3 inches apart and buried 4-6 inches underground. (Deur 178).

Works Cited

Belfield, Thomas. Camassia Quamash. 2014. Burke Herbarium, 2014, burkeherbarium.org/imagecollection/photo.php?Photo=wtu125792&Taxon=Camassia%20quamash&SourcePage=taxon. Accessed 2 May 2024.

This is a photograph that I utilized from the Burke Herbarium. It is useful to my ethnobotany account because it helps show what the full Camas plant looks like.

Bockleman, Ron. Camassia Quamash. 2015. Burke Museum Herbarium, Burke Museum, 2015, burkeherbarium.org/imagecollection/photo.php?Photo=wtu056427&Taxon=Camassia%20quamash&SourcePage=taxon. Accessed 2 May 2024.

This picture of a camas bulb is helpful to the traditional uses part of my project, it helped me know what the different parts of the camas plant look like.

Deur, Douglas. Gifted Earth : the Ethnobotany of the Quinault and Neighboring Tribes. Corvallis, Oregon State UP, 2022.

The Gifted Earth by Douglas Deur was very helpful for learning many different ways indigenous tribes utilized Common Camas, as well as a basic physical description.

Gilbert, Rod. Camassia Quamash. 2007. Burke Herbarium, 2007, burkeherbarium.org/imagecollection/photo.php?Photo=wtu027469&Taxon=Camassia%20quamash&SourcePage=taxon. Accessed 2 May 2024.

This photograph from the Burke Herbarium shows a close-up view of the camas flowers.

Gunther, Erna, and Jeanne R. Janish. Ethnobotany of Western Washington : the Knowledge and Use of Indigenous Plants by Native Americans. Rev. ed ed., Seattle, U of Washington P, 1992.

This book didn't have too much information on my plant, but provided many different indigenous names that are used by different tribes in Washington

Kruckeberg, Arthur R., and Linda Chalker-Scott. Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest. 3rd ed., Seattle, U of Washington P, 2019.

This book was useful because it provided detailed growing information that I was able to utilize in my ethnobotany account.

Pojar, Jim, and Andy MacKinnon. Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska. Vancouver, Lone Pine, 1994.

This field guide gave lots of specific and clear information about common camas. I used this book to figure out where camas grows, how often it blooms, and what family it is in.