Camas Lily Meadows in Peak Bloom at Lacamas Park in SW Washington

Описание: Today we’re exploring the beautiful camas lily meadows at Lacamas Park in the aptly named town of Camas, Washington. The camas lily is a native wildflower that grows well in meadows that are wet in winter and dry in summer—exactly the conditions we get here in the Pacific Northwest.

In today’s video, we’ll share what makes these wildflowers so special and everything you need to know to see the lily meadows yourself. Stay tuned, because the camas lilies aren’t the only natural treasure at Lacamas Park—there are also beautiful waterfalls, a lake, and a lush maple-and-fir forest filled with trails. In our next video, we’ll take a closer look at the park’s forests and waterfalls.

Camas lilies typically bloom between April and early June, depending of course on the weather in any given year. In this video, we’re visiting on May 7th, 2022, and the lilies were at their peak bloom.

The camas lily, sometimes called the quamash, was an important food for Native Americans. The bulbs were cooked and then dried and ground into a powder that was used for various foods, including a version of pancakes!

The Nez Perce tribe shared bread made from camas lily roots with the Lewis & Clark expedition in 1805. The explorers reportedly found it to taste great, but felt a bit ill afterward. Maybe it takes some getting used to!

The edible camas lily looks very similar to a poisonous plant astutely referred to as “death camas”…so I wouldn’t recommend eating these.

If you visit the meadows when the wildflowers aren’t blooming, they’ll still be covered in a beautiful carpet of moss.