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Camassia cusickii
Also called Cusick's quamash, Cusick Camas
Camassia cusickii, common name Cusick's camas or Cusick's quamash, is a species of plant in the family Asparagaceae (subfamily Agavoideae). It is native to parts of North America. C. cusickii originally appeared in horticultural journals in the late 1800s.
C. cusickii prefers fertile moist soil, but well drained humus rich soil that does not become over saturated with water. The bulbs are usually planted 6 inches (150 mm) deep in late summer or early fall, but later planting can also be successful. In very cold areas, the soil should be mulched to protect the bulbs in late autumn. Camassias can be propagated by removing the offsets that have formed round the main bulbs and replanting them individually; do this in summer when they are dormant. Sweet William and Peonies offer as good companions to C. cusickii. They can be planted in flower beds, borders, rock gardens, and also be planted as cut flowers. This plant thrives among perennials. C. cusickii can naturalize and serve as ground cover. C. cusickii is generally resistant to deer and rodents.
Although scattered from coast to coast, Camassia cusickii is more abundant in the northwestern states, specifically Oregon and Idaho. It is commonly found in the Canadian Life Zone and prefers damp meadows. Stations have been located in the Eagle Creek Mountains, Powder River Mountains, and Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. C. cusickii is a federal 3c Bureau of Land Management Sensitive Species and 'Idaho Native Plant Society Sensitive Species'. This species spreads over Eastern Oregon in a variety of the local climates, from Mount Hebo on the North Coast, to the isolated area of the Hell's Canyon overlook.
This plant was not used as a food source for Native Americans. The large root of this relative of Camassia is pungent, slimy, and bitter tasting. This bitter taste is due to steroidal saponins within the plant. These saponins found in the bulbs of C. cusickii are being isolated and used in multiple studies helping to provide a point of reference for further studies on plant saponins. C. cusickii is commonly confused with its near sister relative the C. quamash, which Native Americans would harvest the roots to consume as raw vegetables, or they boiled them to create a "sweet, molasses-like treat."
Prairie camas · Howell's camas · Large camas · Small camas · Atlantic camas · Camas
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Camassia cusickii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
