One of the most important native food sources!
Common Camas has beautiful flowers, and is sometimes called “wild hyacinth”. However, this plant has had a long association with humans because of its edible bulbs, not its flowers! Native people have eaten Camas for thousands of years - much of the landscape of what is now called Western North America has been shaped specifically to increase Camas habitat. This is a fire-adapted species, and through frequent burning, people created highly biodiverse and human-habitable Camas prairies. Today, only a few percent of the original Camas prairies remain. Bring it back in your yard or balcony!
"Camassia quamash" by Matt Lavin
