In a bid to learn more about “death camass”, Google led me to this wonderful blog!
Plant poisonings are a funny thing. Most people aren’t actively seeking out poisonous plants in which to eat, that would be dumb. Rather they mistake them for something else through an honest mistake, willful ignorance, or just plain foraging hubris. I hate foraging hubris. But I digress.
Take the “Death Camas.” I’d like to believe that no sane person would willfully eat something with the name “death” in it, but accidents happen. The Death Camas, of many varieties, used to belong solely to the Zigadenus genus, with about twenty different species. But botanists being botanists decided that wasn’t good enough, and blew the genus up. Now, the Death Camas’ are spread among the Anticlea, Stenanthium, and Toxicoscordion genus, with just one species, Zigadenus glaberrimus, left in the original. I find this all so confusing, which is probably the number one reason why I’m not a botanist. But it…
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