Camassia quamash
- noun
- /kəˈmæs.i.ə ˈkwɑː.mæʃ/
- Specialized
:
camasa
- Native peoples traditionally harvested Camassia quamash bulbs as a staple food.
Examples
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In spring, meadows are covered with the blue flowers of Camassia quamash.
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Digging for Camassia quamash requires careful identification, as its bulbs are edible but similar to toxic plants.
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The Camassia quamash blooms beautifully in spring.
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Are you familiar with Camassia quamash?
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In spring, meadows are covered with the blue flowers of Camassia quamash.
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Native peoples traditionally harvested Camassia quamash bulbs as a staple food.
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Digging for Camassia quamash requires careful identification, as its bulbs are edible but similar to toxic plants.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A plant with grass-like leaves and star-shaped blue or white flowers
A wildflower that has blue star-shaped flowers and a large bulb you can eat
A plant with long grass leaves and blue or purple star-shaped flowers grown for its edible bulb
A plant with star-shaped blue or white flowers and a starchy edible bulb
A plant with blue flowers whose bulbs people eat
A plant with large edible bulbs and blue flowers used as food by native people
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a scientific binomial combining a genus name (Camassia) and a species epithet (quamash); if a learner knows both constituent plant names, the combined expression simply denotes that particular plant. The label is taxonomic and fully compositional rather than idiomatic, so its meaning is directly derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Camassia quamash may come from a Native American word quamash for this plant. People dug its sweet, edible bulbs for 'food', so the word became the name for the blue‑flowered bulb plant we use today.