Camas and Paradise

by Suvia Judd, from the June 2001 Newsletter

Sometime in the past month (May) you may have seen camas blooming. Around here it is a soft lavenderish mid-blue color, with starry flowers on 12-18 inch stalks. The flowers open from the bottom of the stem and progress upwards. The concave strappy leaves are silvery on their backs.

Camas grows in wet places. Nowadays, you are most likely to see it growing in damp ditches, around sunny springs, or in bottomland pastures. Anywhere that has been ploughed, or the roadside or field edge sprayed with herbicides, camas is likely to have disappeared, even if the habitat looks good.

Once the whole Paradise Valley was filled with camas. The valley that later became the town of Moscow was a seasonal wetland, filling in the spring, and draining through the summer. Paradise Valley was the name given to the first European community here, to replace the less acceptable Hog Heaven. It was originally named Hog Heaven because of the camas bulbs, which were rooted up and eaten by the settlers' pigs. The community was later renamed Moscow. The name Paradise survives in Paradise Creek and Paradise Ridge.

Before the settlers came, this valley was one of the four major camas collecting grounds for the Nez Perce, for whom camas was a staple food. Around a dozen years ago, I drove around the area with two friends, one an anthropologist, looking for surviving patches of camas. We found it along back roads east and southeast of Moscow, but only in small isolated clumps and patches.

Exploring farther afield on the north side of Moscow Mountain, we found a little triangular field full of camas, of a somewhat darker, more intense blue than the plants around Moscow. There were some white-flowered camas plants in there too, and they seemed to be true camas, not the so-called "death camas," which is a highly poisonous white-flowered plant in the genus Zigadenus. Death camas generally grows in drier, more upland sites than camas, but it's not something to make a mistake about.

The only traditional camas collecting ground which is not now on private property is Musselshell Meadow, in the National Forest east of Weippe. When we went there we found almost no camas, although it was a pretty place. On the way back, we came through Weippe, and before we started down the grade into the canyon I looked west towards the sunset and saw a lake in some flat lowland fields, a mile or so away. I pointed it out to my friends, and an argument ensued, as they insisted it was not a lake, but a field of camas. So of course we sent back and detoured down the side road. It was indeed a huge field of camas, although even close up one could imagine it a lake. The camas around Weippe is a pale powder blue, very different from our variety around here, although I believe it is the same species. We got out of the car and leaned on the fence, watching the sun setting over the lake of camas.

A reminder, if you are interested in digging camas roots, please get permission before collecting camas on private property or public lands. If you want to eat it, be sure of your identification, and learn about the best time to collect. If you want to grow it, a sunny spot with good garden soil and plenty of moisture, especially in spring, will suit.

Suvia Judd lives and works in the Paradise Valley, and likes to learn about the natural history of the places she inhabits.

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