Common Camas, Small Camas: Camassia quamash ssp. quamash (Synoyms: Camassia quamash ssp. teapeae, Camassia quamash var. quamash, Phalangium quamash)

common camas (ssp. quamash) seen at left in a dry, open forest about 2 miles west of Glenwood, WA on the southeastern side of Mt. Adams.........May 19, 2006. Note the widely-spaced flowers which is a characteristic of this subspecies. The photo at right shows the flowers of common camas (ssp. quamash) as seen in a vernally moist drainage between stock ponds to the east of the east rim of Canyon Creek, Soda Springs Unit, Klickitat Wildlife Area.....May 21, 2021. Note the 3 veins in each tepal.

a) Camassia quamash ssp. breviflora - Plants fairly stout in appearance. Inflorescence fairly dense. Tepals tend to twist together to cover the ovary as they wither. Pedicels 7-15 mm long, incurved and erect in fruit. Tepals 1.5-2 cm long, mostly 3-nerved. Leaves 1-1.7 cm wide, generally glaucous in appearance. Anthers typically bright yellow. Plants mostly less than 50 cm high.

b) Camassia quamash ssp. quamash ? - Plants fairly slender in appearance. Inflorescence fairly open. Tepals tend to spread separately as they wither, not covering the ovary. Pedicels erect-appressed or tightly appressed in fruit. Tepals 20-40 mm long and mostly 3-nerved. Leaves relatively narrow and not very glaucous in appearance. Anthers typically dull yellow to violet.

Common camas as seen in wetlands along the Willard Springs Trail at Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge........May 24, 2016. Note the bilaterally symetrical flowers (observable both from frontal and lateral views of the flowers) and individual tepals which have 3 veins. Note also the tepals which whither separately and don't twist over the ovary after pollination. These are all characteristics of this subspecies of common camas.

The photo at left shows the tepals which are spreading and not wrapping around the ovary as they wither, a characteristic of subspecies quamash. Photo taken in a dry, open forest about 2 miles west of Glenwood, WA on the southeastern side of Mt. Adams.........May 19, 2006

The photo above shows the fruits of common camas (subspecies quamash) held erect and tightly appressed to the stem (a characteristic of this subspecies). Photographed in a vernally moist swale along Road K1000 to the west of the Mt. Adams Highway..........June 17, 2006.

Common camas (subspecies quamash) as seen in drainages in lithosol grasslands west of a wildlife area access road west of Grayback Mountain Road, Klickitat Wildlife Area...........April 26, 2016. The following characteristics visible in these photos help identify this subspecies as ssp. quamash: Tepals with 3 veins, tepals withering separately from (not wrapping tightly around) ovary, glaucous upper and green lower leaf surfaces.

Common camas (subspecies quamash) blooming along a vernally moist drainage on the southeastern slopes of Grayback Mountain, about twenty miles southeast of Mount Adams......May 14, 2023.