Great White Camas Seeds (Camassia leichtlinii ssp. leichtlinii)

This beautiful creamy-white-flowered plant is a Great Camas subspecies from southern Oregon. Flowering in mid-spring, great white camas is at home in wet swales, partially-shaded hardwood thickets, and grassy slopes.

Forming almost tennis-ball sized bulbs at maturity, this is a plant with typically high seedling germination rates, but very slow growth -- ultimately flowering and reaching 2 to 3 feet in height after 5 to 7 years of maturity. One interesting feature of great camas is that individual plants may not flower every year, and rather may remain dormant in some years when growing conditions are not optimal.

Great white camas benefits from cold-wet winter exposure to initiate germination. Starting in containers can be useful to identify and segregate individual plants, however direct seeding, even into existing stands of vegetation can be effective. Note that germination usually occurs in late winter or early spring, after a prolonged wet winter period, initially forming a single small grass-like blade that persists for several weeks before going dormant. Second year growth is typically similarly brief, lasting only a few weeks. With each successive year the growth period gets longer, and the small underground bulb increases in size.

Note that all camas is susceptible to intense deer browsing on flower buds, so fencing or other protection is warranted in areas with high deer populations. 

Approximately 100 seeds (0.7 grams).