Which Camassia Is This?

Cody H via pbs pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
Thu, 21 May 2020 12:39:13 PDT
Looks like C. cusickii to me. I agree with Robin that the orientation of
the flowers and density on the stalk are more consistent with that species.
Flower color is variable in Camassia (white, blue, deep purple, lavender,
pink, everything in between) so I wouldn't base any attempt at species id
on color. When I've seen C. cusickii in the wild (in very large populations
on steep hillsides in grassland and coniferous forest in Hell's Canyon, on
the OR side), it was a very large plant, always growing in dense
clumps, each sending up potentially numerous inflorescences. The leaves of
the plants in those populations were both wider and longer than any C.
leichtlinii I've seen, and the dense clusters of plants gave an overall
effect reminiscent of Colchicum leaves. The C. leichtlinii I grow in my
garden don't grow in dense clumps, they form large colonies (by seed) of
more or less evenly spaced plants (mostly solitary or sometimes with a few
offsets growing in small clusters, but never dense clumps) with narrow
leaves, sending up one or a few inflorescences each. And the flowers on C.
leichtlinii have much broader, more lanceolate petals than those in your
photo Judy, are more widely open, more widely spaced on the scape, face
more outward (instead of at an upward angle), and there are fewer of them
in a single inflorescence. That said, I believe hybridization is not
uncommon in Camassia, so plants in the trade might not really correspond
that well to the wild species.

On Thu, May 21, 2020 at 11:42 AM Robin Hansen via pbs <
pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote:

> One of the reasons I'd say this photo of Judy's is cusickii is that the
> flowers are densely held to the flower stalks and have a faint blue tinge.
> I've had leichtlinii ssp leichtlinii blooming for weeks and the individual
> flowers are well-separated and white with a yellowish-green tinge.  I've
> been visiting a patch of quamash on Hwy 42 east of Myrtle Point and on the
> western fringes but also somewhat intermingled are Zigadenus or whatever
> the
> current name is.  See attached photo. I know I have photos of leichtlinii,
> will keep looking.
>
> Robin Hansen
> Rain but more sun breaks
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