Wild hyacinth (Camassia scilloides) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 9
Special Significance of the Species
Camassia bulbs are starchy and edible. The western species (C.leichtlinii and C. quamash) were used as a staple food by native people as well as by early European explorers. There are 76 citations on the Native American Ethnobotany Database (some of the older ones are for C. scilloides, but all with western references, thus for the species sensu lato, not as we now know it now). Native people traveling through the Erie Islands likely utilized this species in a similar manner, and may have deliberately or accidentally introduced them to these islands.
Camassia bulbs are often available in the specialty horticultural trade, but more commonly the western species (C. leichtlinii and C. quamash).
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