Flower Friday – Camassia Cusickii

Last Friday I wrote about Camassia quamash – a relatively short mid to late flowering bulb with deep blue flowers. Today, it’s the turn of Camassia cusickii – sometimes called, it seems, Cusick’s camass.

C. cusickii is found naturally only in parts of Oregon and Idaho, where it favours moist meadows, but has been widely distributed around the world. Growing a bit taller than C. quamash, its petals are also much paler, and longer.

Interestingly, unlike other members of the Camassia genus, these bulbs were not used as a food source for native peoples, likely because the bulbs taste bitter, and slimy, at least according to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It’s a great late spring bloomer, well worth seeking out for your garden.