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Anticlea elegans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mountain deathcamas

Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Melanthiaceae
Genus: Anticlea
Species:
A. elegans
Binomial name
Anticlea elegans
Synonyms

Zigadenus elegans Pursh

Anticlea elegans, formerly Zigadenus elegans, is also known as mountain deathcamas, elegant camas or alkali grass. It is not a grass (though its leaves are grass-like), but belongs to the trillium family, Melanthiaceae.

It has white lily-like flowers and two-pronged, greenish-yellow glands on each petal (the shape of which can help in distinguishing it from other members of the genus). It is widely distributed through western North America, but absent from California. In Canada its range extends from Quebec and New Brunswick to the Yukon Territory and into Alaska.[3] Plants on the western side of the continent tend to be smaller in size than their eastern counterparts, but have more densely clustered flowers. The plant may be toxic[4] as has been shown for related Toxicoscordion venenosum and T. paniculatum.[5] In sheep, Anticlea elegans has been shown to have an average minimum lethal dose of 60 g of green plant per kg of body weight, compared to 5 g/kg for Toxicoscordion nuttallii.[6]

Meriwether Lewis, while on the course of his expedition in 1806, collected a specimen near the Blackfoot River.[7]

References

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  1. ^ NatureServe (2023). "Zigadenus elegans White Camas". NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  2. ^ Rydb. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 30(5): 273 1903
  3. ^ "Zigadenus elegans Pursh ssp. elegans". USDA Plants Database. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  4. ^ Whitney, Stephen (1985). Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides). New York: Knopf. p. 546. ISBN 0-394-73127-1.
  5. ^ Majak, Walter; McDiarmid, Ruth E.; Cristofoli, Walter; Sun, Fang; Benn, Michael (1992). "Content of zygacine in Zygadenus venenosus at different stages of growth". Phytochemistry. 31 (10): 3417–3418. doi:10.1016/0031-9422(92)83697-W.
  6. ^ Panter, K.E.; Welch, K.D.; Gardner, D.R.; Lee, S.T.; Green, B.T.; Pfister, J.A.; Cook, D.; Davis, T.Z. & Stegelmeier, B.L. (2012). "Poisonous plants of the United States" (PDF). In Gupta, Ramesh C. (ed.). Veterinary Toxicology. Oxford: Academic Press. pp. 1029–1079. ISBN 978-0-12-385926-6. Retrieved 2024-05-05. p. 1067.
  7. ^ Schiemann, Donald Anthony. Wildflowers of Montana, page 142. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula. 2005.
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