Wapato and camas

[Theresa Kishkan]

This is interesting! And what about Claytonia lanceolata or Spring Beauty or
"Indian Potato"? These were dug in abundance at Botanie and traded.....What
are the potatoes in Chiwid, Terry? And Starflowers (Trientalis latifolia)
have tiny tubers that people have eaten for centuries. I've tried them raw
and they are not unlike Jerusalem artichokes...I think it's inulin that they
contain and not starch.

Camassia quamash and Camassia leichtlini both produce
>big potato-like bulbs, and it was most likely the practice of camas farming
>that allowed the peoples of the Strait to adopt the potato so
>enthusiastically. Unlike the potato, camas was harvested in the spring when
>it is in flower

I bet the camas was harvested when in flower so as not to confuse it with
Zigadenus venenosus, or Death Camas. The flowers are very different but they
often grow adjacent to one another. There's a place near us where both grow
and every year I think I'm going to dig up some of the blue camas to try but
then I forget until the flowers are finished. Try to figure out which was
which after they've gone to seed!

Theresa
Theresa Kishkan
RR1 Site 20 C11
Madeira Park, B.C.
V0N 2H0
(604)883-2377
Red Laredo Boots (1996); Sisters of Grass (2000)

"This is the old west where a secret cove with an old house
  is called history, a raven cackling on a limb, mythology."
                                            --Charles Lillard