The American Botanist Volume 15-16 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 Excerpt: ... of the vegetation. Five or six species are found in the West the most abundant being C. esculenta. In the early days this plant was exceeding abundant on the prairies of eastern Washington and northern Idaho. Old settlers of Camas Prairie in northern Idaho tell how, when they first reached the summit of Craigs Mountains, the whole magnificent plain lay stretched out beneath them, blue as a summer sea with these blossoms. Agriculture and herding have driven the camas in large measure from the Clearwater and Palouse prairies. It is now to be found only in fence corners and out-of-the-way places; but farther back in the midst of the forests are many meadows where it still flourishes. These meadows vary in size from an acre to several hundred acres and all are encircled by the dark wall of the forest. Some of the larger meadows have been "taken up" as homesteads and the settlers cut the camas every year for hay. The word camas is derived from the Indian name for the plant. As is usual with primitive peoples the names was not rerestricted to one kind of plant but was applied to several species which do not belong to the genus Camassia. One species of Brodiaca was called "blue camas" and a certain poisonous Zygadenus was called "death camas." Camas bulbs formed the chief food supply of some of the Indians of the Northwest. They baked them in pits dug in the ground until the bulbs crumbled into a white starchy powder which was their flour. It was the encroachment of the whites upon the "camas grounds" of the Indians which lead to the Nez Perce War. It was during this war that the remarkable retreat of Chief Joseph and his followers took place. Encumbered with women, children and baggage, the Indians crossed the Bitter Roots...