Zigadenus blooms much earlier than Camassia, in northern California it blooms in March, Camassia a couple of months later. The flowers, of course, and also the seed pods are different, so I was told they could identify them by the seed heads, and would dig down to get the right bulb by only digging those they could identify, and would also remove the very toxic Zigadenus. I haven't seen them growing together, I have only seen stands of one species but they both like the same moist growing conditions. I have actually cooked Camassia for a presentation to Native American children and they ate them. They tasted like very, very starchy potatoes when they were steamed, but were usually cooked in pits very slowly where the starch would convert to sugars, then they were dried and stored flattened like a cookie or ground into a meal. I looked it up and camas is a Nez Perce word, so maybe we should name one after Chief Joseph who famously led his people on a 1400 mile escape from the military before their final defeat. Diana > Off on a tangent... I read somewhere that Zigadenus (Toxicoscordion) was systematically weeded out by some Native American tribes when it grew in close vicinity to Camassia. The bulbs must look similar, since the plants are so different in flower. > > I've never tried camas, but I've heard it's nutty. Some seed growers sell seeds and bulbs along with tomatoes, squash, and other vegetables. I've tried it from seed, but germ was low for me and my three tiny bulbs look like they've rotted. > > Diana Chapman (Wed, 08 Jul 2015 11:52:37 PDT) > > "I believe that 'camas' is a Shoshone or Nez Perce word also, giving us > the name of the genus Camassia. Camassias were a very important staple > to these tribes." -Diana > > > Travis Owen > Rogue River, OR > > amateuranthecologist.blogspot.com > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/ > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > >