The inflorescence of Camassia cusickii
Camassia cusickii, or Cusick’s camas, is native to mid-elevation hillsides (1000-2000m or to 6500 ft.) of northeastern Oregon and adjacent Idaho. Despite being native to the USA, it is more popular as a garden ornamental in Europe due in part to its light-blue flowers and robust habit.
Unlike its coastal relatives to the west, like Camassia quamash, the bulbs of Camassia cusickii are “mucilaginous-slimy, and foul-tasting and smelly“. It seems to have therefore not been used as a traditional food plant by indigenous peoples of the area.
A disjunct population of this species just turned up in Klickitat County, Washington quite recently – probably about 200 miles from its nearest neighbor! It is a beautiful species that can dominate entire hillsides in late spring.
Interesting! Yes, I see it is documented as of 2017.
I saw it in the wild in early July of 2009–but I don’t have any photos of the population (just of some individual plants). I was too distracted by the Calochortus eurycarpus.
Very interesting Mark! I wonder if you can tell any difference between the wild and cultivated?
Calochortus, aaah. Very distracting indeed!
Lovely photo. What time of day was it taken?
Without looking it up, I’d guess late afternoon light during a post-workday walk.
There’s something about it that says “golden afternoon”…beautiful!
Yep, confirmed it. 6pm, May 5 of last year.