North American Death Camas Gardens Away From Honeybees and Sheep

Summary: Drought resistance, heat tolerance, honeybee and sheep poisonings and land invasions isolate North American death camas gardens for scientific research.

closeup of death camas (Zigadenus venenosus) flowers; Bozeman, Gallatin County, southwestern Montana; June 2, 2003: Matt Lavin, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr

North American death camas gardens as natives west of the Continental Divide advance environmental health least problematically on barren, compacted, disturbed soils in indoor and outdoor courtyards and in scientific research settings.

Toxic land invasions by the herbaceous perennial in the Liliaceae family of lily-related herbs, shrubs and vines bother grazing livestock, nectaring, pollinating honeybees and neighboring vegetation. The toxin zygacine cuts expected lifespans for foraging honeybees and, within 30 hours, for grazing sheep through its concentations in fresh spring bulbs, nectar and pollen. It delivers lethal doses at 0.6 to 2 percent of sheep body weight and does not dissipate from dried death camas as old as 20 years.

Moisture-, nutrient- and soil-grabbing fibrous roots and poisonous bulbs, roots, seeds and shoots ensure the Canadian provincial government in Manitoba's sanctions against the hillside-loving, prairie-seeking weed.

One grasslike cotyledon whose lower part furnishes bulbous looks with age functions as the seedling's embryonic leaf for death camas, scientifically named Zigadenus venenosus (poisonous pair).

Mature death camas shoots get alternate-arranged, basal-appearing, grasslike, green-white, moisture-channeling, parallel-veined, 3.94- to 19.68-inch- (10- to 50-centimeter-) long, 0.08- to 0.39-inch- (2- to 10-millimeter-) wide foliage. Drought-tolerant, grasslike, hairless, shade-intolerant, 7.88- to 27.56-inch- (20- to 70-centimeter-) tall stems include foliage at their bases and flower-clustered terminal inflorescences, called racemes, at their tips.

Hormones and nutrients in drought-loving roots join hormones and photosynthates in sun-loving shoots to jumpstart flowering, fruiting, offsetting and seeding in North American death camas gardens.

Ten- to 50-flowered, 0.79- to 7.87-inch- (2- to 20-centimeter-) long, 0.79- to 1.97-inch- (2- to 5-centimeter-) wide racemes keep floral clusters predominantly on one central stalk.

Racemes leave room for green to white, leaflike, papery, 0.19- to 0.98-inch- (5- to 25-millimeter-) long bracts and oftentimes for one basal flowering branch or two. They must maintain cream-white, perfect, regular flowers, each 0.35 to 0.47 inches (9 to 12 millimeters) across, on 0.12- to 0.98-inch- (3- to 25-millimeter-) long stalks. They need to nestle one pistil, three 0.16- to 0.19-inch- (4- to 5-millimeter-) long petals, three same-sized sepals and six stamens into every death camas flower.

The native herb, commonly called alkaligrass, hog potatoes, meadow death camas and soap plant, offers April to July bloom times in North American death camas gardens.

Dry, explosive, papery, 0.32- to 0.79-inch- (8- to 20-millimeter-) long, 0.16- to 0.28-inch- (4- to 7-millimeter-) wide, several-seeded, three-celled fruits called capsules produce light brown seeds.

In-soil germination and in-soil viability of the oval, wrinkled, 0.19- to 0.24-inch- (5- to 6-millimeter-) long, 0.06-inch- (1.5-millimeter-) wide seeds qualify as anecdotal and scientific unknowns. Offsetting of onionlike, 0.39- to 1.18-inch- (10- to 30-millimeter-) long, 0.32- to 0.79-inch- (8- to 20-millimeter-) wide bulbs and seeding represent death camas' two reproduction means. Bulbs at 2.36- to 7.87-inch (6- to 20-centimeter) depths underground start death camas plants, described by Massachusetts-born American botanist Sereno Watson (Dec. 1, 1826-March 9, 1892).

North American death camas gardens treat poisonous, weedy relatives of agave, asparagus, daffodils, garlic, hostas, lilies, lily-of-the-valley, onions, tulips and yucca as drought-resistant, heat-tolerant research subjects.

death camas (Zigadenus venenosus) plant: Dave Powell, USDA Forest Service (retired), Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0, via Forestry Images

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

closeup of death camas (Zigadenus venenosus) flowers; Bozeman, Gallatin County, southwestern Montana; June 2, 2003: Matt Lavin, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/5242282714/

death camas (Zigadenus venenosus) plant: Dave Powell, USDA Forest Service (retired), Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0, via Forestry Images @ http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=0807006

For further information:

Dickinson, Richard; and Royer, France. 2014. Weeds of North America. Chicago IL; London, England: The University of Chicago Press.

Rydberg, Per Axel. May 1903. "2. T. [Toxicoscordion] venenosum." Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, vol. 30, no. 3: 272.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/712972

"Toxicoscordion venenosum (S. Watson) Rydb." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/50117131

Watson, Sereno. 1879. "5. Z. venenosus." Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, new series vol. VI, whole series vol. XIV (May 1878-May 1879): 279.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8714572

Weakley, Alan S.; Ludwig, J. Christopher; and Townsend, John F. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Edited by Bland Crowder. Fort Worth TX: BRIT Press, Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

"Zigadenus venenosus S. Watson." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/18401475