Camassia scilloides
| Camassia scilloides | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 7 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 2' |
| Blooms: | Late Spring |
| Native to: | |
| Shelter | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Camassia scilloides (common name: atlantic camas)
Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame[1]. The seed can also be sown in a cold frame in spring[1]. It usually germinates in 1 - 6 months at 15°c, but it can be erratic[2]. Sow the seed thinly so that it does not need to be thinned and allow the seedlings to grow on undisturbed for their first year. Give an occasional liquid feed to ensure that the plants do not become nutrient deficient. When the plants are dormant in late summer, pot up the small bulbs putting 2 - 3 bulbs in each pot. Grow them on for another one or two years in a cold frame before planting them out when dormant in late summer.
Offsets in late summer. The bulb has to be scored in order to produce offsets.
Cultivation: Succeeds in almost any soil[3]. Grows well in heavy clay soils. Prefers a rather heavy loam[4] that has plenty of moisture in spring but does not remain wet over the winter[2][5]. Dislikes dry soils[5]. Tolerates partial shade[2][5].
Plant bulbs 7 - 10cm deep in early autumn and then leave them undisturbed.
Range: Western N. America. - Ontario to Wisconsin and southwards.
Habitat: Low fields, meadows and open woods[6].
Edibility: Bulb - raw or cooked[7]. The bulb was an important food for several native North American Indian tribes who used it in a variety of ways[7]. It can be baked or dried and made into a powder which can be used as a thickener in stews or as an additive to cereal flours when making bread, cakes etc[8][K]. The bulb is about 4cm long and 15mm wide[9].
Pollinators: Bees
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Heavy Clay: Grows in heavy-clay soils.
Also Known As: C. esculenta. non Lindl. C. fraseri. Quamasia hyacinthina.
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Rice, Graham. Growing from Seed Volume 2. Thompson and Morgan, 1988.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bird, R. Growing from Seed Volume 3. Thompson and Morgan, 1989.
- ↑ Grey, Charles. Hardy Bulbs. Williams & Norgate, 1938.
- ↑ Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ Lyndon, Merritt. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co, 1950.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Moerman, Daniel. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press, 1998.
- ↑ Elias, Thomas. A Field Guide to North American Edible Wild Plants. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1982.
- ↑ Britton, Nathaniel and Addison Brown. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada. Dover Publications, 1970.