Great Camas (Camassia leichtlinii var. suksdorfii)

The Great Camas is found in abundance in certain areas of the San Juan Islands. The Indians valued the root as a staple food of their diet. Camas praries were sometimes burned by Indians to keep the area open from forest incursion. Since the white Poison Camas the has a similar root and grows in a similar environment, it is advisable not to eat the root, unless one is intimately familiar with the particular field where the plant grows. Photo by Richard W. Wright