Camassia leichtlinii (great camas)

Native to North America, where it occurs from southern British Columbia to Washington, Oregon and California, where it is found in the Coast Range south to Napa County, and in the Sierra Nevada mountain range south to Mono and Tulare Counties.

Camassia leichtlinii (Image: James Morley)

A bulbous plant with leaves up to 60 cm long and 2.5 cm wide. The flowering stems are up to 120 cm long and are leafless and unbranched, with numerous flowers. There are six more or less equal perianth segments (petals and sepals), each up to 5 cm long. The dead perianth segments remain twisted around the young capsule (fruit). Mature capsules are up to 2.5 cm long. The seeds are black, ovoid and about 2 mm long.

The once extensive populations of Camassia species have been reduced by agricultural improvement of the meadows in which they grow.

Camassia leichtlinii (Image: James Morley)

Great camas is grown today as an ornamental, particularly in grass. However, for some native North Americans, bulbs of several Camassia species (including Camassia leichtlinii) were an important food source. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who led the United States’ first expedition to the Pacific coast of North America (1804-1806), first tasted Camassia bulbs after a difficult journey over the Bitterroot Mountains (part of the Rocky Mountains named after bitterroot, Lewisia rediviva), during which the expedition members almost starved and were reduced to eating some of their horses. After descending from the mountains in September 1805, Lewis and Clark were met by members of the Nez Perce tribe, who provided them with food, including bread made from Camassia bulbs. The bulbs were usually cooked by steaming them for a day or more in circular pits in the ground and used rather like potatoes to accompany meat or fish dishes, or to sweeten other foods. Some tribes, such as the Sooke and Songish, traded large quantities of Camassia bulbs with the Nootka in exchange for other foods.

The Millennium Seed Bank partnership aims to save plant life worldwide, focusing on plants under threat and those of most use in the future. Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in Kew's seed bank vault at Wakehurst.

Description of seeds: Average 1,000 seed weight = 8.05 g.
Collections stored in the Millennium Seed Bank: One.

Camassia leichtlinii can be seen growing in the Rock Garden at Kew and the Bog Garden at Wakehurst Place. It usually flowers in late March and April.

A related species, Camassia cusickii, can be seen naturalised in grass along the Riverside Walk close to Rhododendron Dell at Kew.

Pressed and dried specimens of Camassia species are held in Kew’s Herbarium, where they are available to researchers, by appointment. The details, including an image, of one of these can be seen on-line in the Herbarium Catalogue. Great camas bulbs are held in Kew’s Economic Botany Collection, where they are available to researchers, by appointment.

Search Kew’s science databases for more information on this species

Royal Horticultural Society – Camassia leichtlinii

The Nature Conservancy: Oregon – Camassia natural area

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