"White-tailed Deer in Camas Meadow, Idaho"

A native of the US and Canada, camas (Camassia quamash), sometimes called “wild hyacinth” or “quamash”, is a perennial herb and a member of the asparagus family found in moist meadows in the northwestern US and southeastern Canada. Patches of the lovely flowers are seen in the early spring around the Palouse region of Eastern Washington and adjacent North Idaho in some remaining undeveloped wet areas. Camas’ 6-petaled flowers range from pale lilac to dark blue-purple and sometimes white. Historically, the plant’s tubers were used by Native Americans as a nutritious food source that stored well over winter. Natives pit-roasted or boiled the starchy bulb for eating, and one can imagine them enjoying a meal of quamash with deer meat from the White-tailed deer which were also hunted by Natives in the same locations.