Camas
Camassia quamash
An edible bulb of western meadows, a traditional Indigenous staple when pit-cooked. Death camas (Zigadenus/Toxicoscordion) is a toxic look-alike in the same landscapes. This site does not teach you to forage camas from a photo.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
What it is
An edible bulb of western meadows, a traditional Indigenous staple when pit-cooked. Death camas (Zigadenus/Toxicoscordion) is a toxic look-alike in the same landscapes. This site does not teach you to forage camas from a photo.
Identification
Blue six-tepaled flowers in racemes; still not enough alone vs death camas — learn both in the field with a mentor.
Edible portions
- bulbs, traditionally pit-cooked — expert identification required
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. 4–8 wet spring meadows of the West
- Light. Spring sun, summer-dry meadows
- Soil. Wet spring, drier summer
- Planting. A native bulb. Don’t wild-strip.
- Harvest. Not a beginner forage.
Safety
- Death camas is the lethal confusion. Unless you are trained in that landscape, do not dig meadow lilies/bulbs for dinner.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- No USDA FoodData Central nutrient profile is attached here. That is not a claim that the plant contains no nutrients.
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class B. Good foundation: enough unique information to exist as its own destination.