#deathcamas

#deathCamas #wildflowers #salishsea

Breaking a long streak of second place at the state tournament to go to Wisconsin this year. For seniors who have been on the team since junior high, the last time we won was ninth grade. 

The common name for this lovely plant is Death Camas (toxicoscordion venenosum) which is a name that would be great for a band. But do not let its looks deceive you! This deadly poisonous villain of a plant is actually quite evil. It will cunningly grow among  edible camas plants so that its bulbs are accidently harvested along with those of ordinary camas. The best way to tell the plant apart from camas is by its flowers. This means that only during the Spring one can recognize this deadly intruder and weed it out before it finds its way into the local cuisine. While it hides its vile intentions behind a shroud of lovely little flowers, this plant does has the one redeeming quality of being used as medicine in some cases.