Alternate name: Small Camas, Swamp Sego
Family: Liliaceae, Lily view all from this family
Description Light to deep blue-violet, star-shaped flowers in a raceme; several narrow, grass-like leaves grow mostly near the base.
Flowers: 1 1/2-2 1/2" (3.8-6.3 cm) wide; slightly bilaterally symmetrical; 6 narrow petal-like segments, lower ones tend to curve out from the stem more strongly than do upper ones.
Leaves: to 2' (60 cm) long.
Height: 12-20" (30-50 cm).
Flower April-June.
Habitat Moist meadows.
Range Southern British Columbia to northern California; east to northern Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.
Discussion This species is sometimes so frequent as to color entire meadows blue-violet. Indians pit-roasted the bland bulbs with other leaves, and also boiled them, which yielded a good syrup. Another similar species is Leichtlin's Camas (C. leichtlinii), which grows only west of the Cascade Mountains, from southern British Columbia to the southern portion of California's Sierra Nevada, and has radially symmetrical flowers.
