There are several kinds of Camassia, one eastern; herbs with onion-like
bulbs, long, narrow leaves and thin, dry bracts. The flowers are blue
of various shades, with six, separate, somewhat spreading divisions,
each with a stamen on its base, the anthers swinging, the style
threadlike, with a three-cleft tip; the capsule three-lobed, with
several seeds in each compartment. Varieties of Camassia have long been
cultivated in European gardens. The name is derived from Quamash, the
Indian name for these plants.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: =Camass, Quamash=
_Camássia quámash_
=Blue
Summer
Northwest and Utah=]
Looking across the vivid green of wet meadows and marshes, the deep
blue patches of this flower are often conspicuous and beautiful. They
grow from one to over two feet high, taller than the grasslike leaves,
forming a loose cluster, with papery bracts. The flowers are from an
inch and a half to over two inches across, the six divisions spreading
out into a star. The buds are tinged with turquoise-blue and striped
with purple, giving a fine iridescent effect, and the flowers, which
fade very quickly, are often exceedingly handsome, varying in color
from dark-blue to white, but usually deep, bright purplish-blue, with
a green ovary, a long purple style and yellow anthers, with purple
filaments. They are larger and handsomer in northern California than in
Yosemite. Grizzly bears are fond of the bulbs and the Indians of the
Northwest prized them as a delicacy, indeed the Nez Percé war in Idaho
was caused by encroachments on a territory where they were abundant.
They were cooked elaborately in pits, care being taken to avoid the
poisonous bulbs of the Death Camass, which resemble them. The Indians
also boil the bulbs in water and make good molasses from them, which
they use on festive occasions. This is sometimes called Wild Hyacinth,
but the name is poor, as it does not resemble a hyacinth in character.
[Illustration: Camass--Camassia quamash.]
There are six kinds of Clintonia, of North America and Asia; with
creeping rootstocks and a few, broad root-leaves; flowers without
bracts, their divisions separate, equal or nearly so, each with a
stamen at its base; style with two or three, inconspicuous lobes; fruit
a berry. These plants were named in honor of De Witt Clinton, Governor
of New York, a naturalist, interested in botany, so Thoreau need not
have been so annoyed at their having been given this name.
[Sidenote: =Red Clintonia=
_Clintònia Andrewsiàna_
=Red, pink
Spring, summer
Oreg., Cal.=]
A magnificent plant, one or two feet high, with five or six,
exceedingly handsome, glossy, rich green leaves, very conspicuous and
sometimes a foot long, and a tall, slightly downy flower-stalk, usually
with a few flowers scattered along it, and crowned with a large,
roundish cluster of beautiful flowers. They are about three-quarters of
an inch long, very rich in color, a deep shade of warm reddish-pink, or
crimson, not common in flowers. The form of the cluster varies a good
deal; sometimes the flowers are not mostly at the top, but clustered
quite thickly along all the upper part of the stalk. The large,
deep-blue berries are very handsome and, altogether, this is one of
our most conspicuous and attractive woodland plants, especially when
growing in the deep shade of redwood forests.
[Sidenote: =Queen-cup White Clintonia=
_Clintònia uniflòra_
=White
Spring
Northwest=]
In rich moist soil, in shady woods, we find this lovely flower,
with a white chalice and heart of pale gold, surrounded by two
or three, beautiful, large, glossy leaves, resembling those of
Lily-of-the-valley, and fairly carpeting the ground in favorable
situations. The slender flower-stalk is hairy, six to ten inches
tall, and usually bears a single flower, an inch or more across, with
pure-white petals that soon drop off. The fruit is a handsome blue
berry.
[Illustration: C. uniflora.