Wildflowers Found in Oregon

Common Camas

Camassia quamash - Camas is a Nootka Indian word meaning sweet. Indians depended on this nourishing plant and collected the bulbs each autumn. They baked the bulbs and ground them into flour to make flat cakes. The Chief Joseph War began when the hungrey Nez Pierce left their reservation in eastern Oregon to collect camas for the coming winter. The moist meadows of our pastures have thousands of these blue flowers. On the top center of the picture of the field of camas you can see our driveway going up to our house. Our house is hidden among the trees.