Toxicoscordion venenosum var. venenosum (Death Camas) - photos and description

 


15 cm ruler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General: Low plant with stout stems from a bulb. Plants glabrous. Poisonous, particularly the bulb.

Flowers: Flowers in a dense raceme, yellow-white, we measured flowers from 8 mm to 10 mm in diameter.

Leaves: Linear, grass-like, mostly basal, we measured a leaf at 15.5 cm long and 5 mm wide.

Height: Height is listed in Budd's Flora from 10 to 20 cm high. We measured plants to 33 cm tall.

Habitat: Edges of streams, grassy draws and coulees of the southern prairie.

Abundance: Fairly common.

Origin: Native.

Similar species: Could be confused with Smooth Camas (Anticlea elegans var. elegans), however that plant's flowers are not in a dense raceme, and not gold in colour.

Synonym: Listed in many of the field guides we use as Zigadenus venenosus.

When and where photographed: Photos taken May 27th, hillside prairie meadow, East Block of Grasslands Park, 275 km southwest of Regina, SK, and June 2nd, along a stream and on a draw at Old Man on His Back Conservation Area, about 450 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.