Plant
Camas
Camassia quamash
Photo: Walter Siegmund, CC BY-SA 3.0
Common Names
Quamash / Camas Root
Habitat
Weippe Prairie
Conservation
Apparently secure
First Observed
1805-09-20
Observed At
Weippe Prairie, Clearwater County, Idaho
Steamed and dried roots were essential to the Nez Perce diet, but were too rich for the half-starved men of the Corps.
Recent sightings
Where it’s being seen today
1 research-grade iNaturalist observation between 2021–2021. Most recent: 2021-06-13. Sourced from Terrain360 trail captures, cached locally.
Journal References
2 journal entries mention Camas
Sep
20
1805
Rescued by the Nez Perce at Weippe Prairie
...d by Chief Twisted Hair, provided food — dried salmon and camas roots — though the sudden change in diet made many of the men violently ill. Nez Perce oral tradi...
Sep
24
1805
Nez Perce villages on Clearwater — John Ordway: September 24, 1805
...w Indians in America were their superiors.
1 The quamash or camas is an important article of food among the North-
western Indian tribes. It is the bulbous root of a...
