Camassia is a small genus of bulbous perennial herbs in the family Asparagaceae (order Asparagales), subfamily Agavoideae, native to North America. Common names include camas, quamash, Indian hyacinth, camash, and wild hyacinth.
Plants emerge from bulbs in early spring, producing basal, strap-like linear leaves 20–80 cm long. By summer, a leafless flowering stem rises 30–130 cm above the foliage, bearing a dense raceme of flowers whose six petals range from pale lilac and white through sky blue to deep purple or blue-violet. When in bloom across moist meadows, camas can appear to color the entire landscape blue — a spectacle recorded by early European explorers and still visible in protected prairies across the Pacific Northwest.
The genus was historically placed in the lily family (Liliaceae) and then in Hyacinthaceae before DNA and biochemical evidence led the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group to reassign it to Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae — the group that includes agaves and hostas. The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognizes six species as of 2025, ranging across North America from western coastal meadows to eastern prairies. The best-known member, Camassia quamash (common camas or blue camas), was a critical food staple for many Pacific Northwest Indigenous peoples, including the Nez Perce, Yakama, Blackfoot, and Coast Salish, who harvested, pit-roasted, and traded its starchy bulbs for centuries. The bulbs sustained members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Camassia leichtlinii and Camassia cusickii are widely grown as ornamentals in European and North American gardens, valued for their tall spikes of blue flowers in late spring.
Etymology
The genus name Camassia is derived from the Nez Perce word qém'es (also rendered as "quamash" or "camass"), which was the Indigenous name for the plant and its edible bulbs. The common names camas, quamash, camash, and wild hyacinth all trace to this origin.
Distribution
Camassia is native to North America, with species distributed from British Columbia south through the Pacific Coast states, east across the Rocky Mountains into the Great Plains, and extending to the eastern United States. The genus reaches peak diversity and abundance in moist meadows of the Pacific Northwest, where place names from Oregon and Washington to Idaho and Utah record its historical prevalence.
Ecology
Camassia grows in moist meadows, prairie edges, stream banks, and lightly shaded forest openings. Its habitat often overlaps with toxic white-flowered deathcamas species (tribe Melanthieae), which bear similar bulbs; the two are most reliably distinguished when in flower. Camassia quamash's distribution across the Pacific Northwest is thought to result primarily from postglacial migration rather than anthropogenic dispersal, despite extensive historical Indigenous management of camas plots.
Cultivation
Camassia bulbs naturalize readily in temperate gardens. They perform best in well-drained, humus-rich soil in full sun to light shade, and tolerate moist conditions. Bulbs should be planted in autumn at a depth of about 10 cm. Clumps may be divided after the leaves wither in autumn. Plants spread by seed rather than runners. Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest practiced systematic cultivation of camas plots using controlled burning, weeding, tilling, and selective harvesting; stewardship was lineage-based and plots passed through generations.
Cultural Uses
Camassia bulbs, especially those of C. quamash, were one of the most important food staples of Pacific Northwest and Great Basin Indigenous peoples, including the Nez Perce, Cree, Kalapuya, Blackfoot, Yakama, and Coast Salish. Bulbs were harvested in spring or early summer when in bloom, then pit-roasted for up to two days or boiled; the cooked bulb has a sweet, sweet-potato-like flavor with a slightly fibrous texture from inulin. Bulbs were also pounded into paste and formed into cakes for storage and trade. Camas was traded across extensive Indigenous networks in the Pacific Northwest; the Lekwungen name for the site of present-day Victoria, British Columbia — Camosun, or "place to gather camas" — preserves this history. Camas bulbs contributed to the survival of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Note: The edible blue-flowered Camassia must not be confused with the toxic white-flowered deathcamas (tribe Melanthieae), which shares the same habitat.
Taxonomy Notes
Camassia has moved among several families as plant systematics evolved. It was long placed in the broadly defined Liliaceae, then transferred to Hyacinthaceae (now subfamily Scilloideae of Asparagaceae) when Liliaceae was split. Current APG classification places it in Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, based on DNA and biochemical evidence. The name Camassia esculenta has been applied ambiguously to both C. quamash and C. scilloides in historical literature and remains a source of horticultural confusion. The former Camassia biflora is now treated as Oziroe biflora, a South American species.
