The first week of June proved to be a perfect time to revisit Little Shasta Meadows Botanical Area on the east side of the Klamath National Forest. We were treated to a lake of camas lily, brightened by pink "elephant trunks" (pedicularis sp.), the white lollipop heads of bistort and acres of yellow buttercup.
Camas lilies are beautiful! They were also a favored food source for the First Peoples, who cultivated great seas of lilies in wet meadows of the West. Beware to modern foragers, though: the lily bulb is harvested in autumn when it is hard to distinguish from the bulb of the death camas!
This little column of pink flowers is named for its swooping tubules.
Bistort is another edible wild plant, but beware the corn lily
in front of it: all parts are poisonous!
