Camassia 'Sacajewea'

Rodger Whitlock totototo@telus.net
Wed, 09 May 2012 12:40:27 PDT
On 9 May 2012, at 10:43, James Waddick wrote:

>  A  week or so ago I posted about the first bloom of these 
> bulbs...they are WHITE.  I think so much emphasis has been put on the 
> variegated foliage (the color has disappeared already) and less 
> mention of flower color.  Since we have no other white Camassia this 
> is an added bonus of variety.


What species of camas is 'Sacajewea' supposed to be?

We have two camas here on southern Vancouver Island: C. quamash and C. 
leichtlinii ssp. suksdorfii. Years ago I used to prowl around neglected corners 
of the city where these grew and found a number of pure white and pale blue 
specimens of the latter, but never the former. Some of these whites and pale 
blues were translated into the garden.

Once or twice I've seen plants that appeared from a passing car to be pink, but 
never when I could get a good look at them to be sure just what color they 
were. 

Unfortunately camas appear to be weedy in my climate, so I have a thicket of 
the silly things now. They set copious seed and the seed germinates freely. 
Since their bulbs go down to China, they're nearly impossible to get rid of. I 
have learned to turn a blind eye and just enjoy the flowers when they come out.

PS: C. leichtlinii is one of those plants that confuse novice bulb lovers as 
the type of the species in the formal botanical sense (C. leichtlinii 
leichtlinii) hales from around Roseburg, Oregon, and is pale yellow. The more 
common deep blue-purple form found further north thus became a subspecies, even 
though it is more typical in the ordinary sense.


-- 
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Z. 7-8, cool Mediterranean climate



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