Anybody knowledgeable on Camassia

Hope someone can solve a puzzle or maybe it's my memory!. I was weeding a very neglected bed of Rhododenrons and while digging dug up some tubers. A bit like Day Lily types but the fingers are much longer and a very white colour. Thinking back I'm pretty certain I planted some Camassia in the spot but I thought they were bulbs when I planted them not tubers. The fingers are quite brittle and broke off quite a few which had what looked like something had grown from them. I've replanted the ones which look like they have a growing tip and am left with lots of fingers/tubers. Are what I've dug up Camassia or some alien beings! and if I replant the fingers will they grow without a growing point which I expect is doubtful. Hope this makes sense.Thanks.

 

Camassia bulbs look like bulbs with a papery skin. Cc. leichlinnii and cuisickii have large bulbs up to 2 inches in diameter where as C. esculenta bulbs are only about half that size. They all look more like Daffodil bulbs than 'fingers'.

 

Silu - sounds as if you have dug up something else and not Camassia which is a bulb. Rethink what you may have planted there or any chance of a photo for ID?

 

Just dug 1 up that I'd replanted.Hope someone can help. I'm really puzzled as when I dug them up they looked as tho a few of them had the spent flowering stalks like Camassia. They are definitely not Day Lilies and despite me wracking my brains I can't think of anything else I've ever planted in this bed other than Daffodils and Snowdrops. Photo looks a bit like an albino Spider..yuk!

 

Remind me of Eremurus roots...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=eremurus+roots&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1536&bih=776&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=bpRPUIGeM-6k0AWghYHwDg

 

I am not particularly knowledgeable regarding Camassia but I think it could be a C quamash

http://www.google.pt/imgres?q=Camassia quamash root&start=93&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1AFAB_enPT444PT446&biw=1280&bih=677&tbm=isch&tbnid=PE9jFyPahkT7xM:&imgrefurl=http://teachingprimarysources.illinoisstate.edu/Resources/ISU_Lessons/lessons_4_5_level2/lewisclark_hotts/lewisclark_hotts.doc&docid=waDx-w_CxCb6vM&imgurl=http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/images/ree0084.jpg&w=721&h=1024&ei=7ZtPUKmOH8iHhQfQi4HACA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=389&vpy=262&dur=125&hovh=268&hovw=188&tx=121&ty=260&sig=100775449748903956959&page=5&tbnh=162&tbnw=114&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:93,i:66

I was originally thinking Wild Hyacinth of which I have the Portuguese variety.

 

Thanks both and bingo Victoria they definitely are Camassia Quamash. Well done and glad I hadn't gone completely bonkers. From reading about the plant I understand the tubers are edible...hmmm don't think I'll bother!Pity they aren't Eremurus. Tried growing those years ago and no success.

 

Well, well ,well. After growing Quamash for the last 20 years I can say I have never seen them produce underground growth like that. Mine definitely look like ordinary bulbs. Keep saying I will dig some up and try them roasted, but then they die down and I forget where they are and there are a lot of other bulbs in the area.