Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

ATLANTIC CAMAS

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Camassia scilloides (Raf. ) Cory

Wildcat Glades, Newton County, Missouri

Perennial

Height: 6-32 inches

Family: Asparagaceae - Asparagus Family

Flowering Period: April, May, June

Stems:

Scapes from bulbs.

Leaves:

Basal, sessile, simple, linear, blades 3-8, 8 to 24 inches long, .2 to .8 inch wide, blade margins entire.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, terminal, 8 to 20 inches, 10-50(-90)-flowered; sterile bracts 0-3(-5), bracts subtending flowers shorter than or equaling pedicels; fruiting pedicels mostly spreading-erect, .3 to 1.2 inch.

Flowers:

Flowers radially symmetric, spreading; tepals 6, petal-like, distinct, light blue to white, lanceolate to oblanceolate, .28 to .6 inch; stamens 6, filaments distinct.

Fruits:

Capsules, pale green to light brown, nearly globose, .25 to .4 inch; seeds black, .08 to .16 inch.

Habitat:

Mesic tallgrass prairies, swales, glades

Distribution:

East 1/3 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Uses:

Camas bulbs were an important food staple of Native Americans. The bulbs were eaten raw, baked, roasted, boiled in soups, or dried for winter use.

Comments:

Camassia, Shoshone name camas or quamash and scilloides, genus Scilla + similar to.