Summit Meadow's Camas Lily

In early summer some of Yosemite's most colorful wildflower displays are seen in the meadows along the Glacier Point Road.  The floral display at Summit Meadow is quite spectacular right now.  The extraordinarily beautiful carpet of blue flowers growing in Summit Meadow is shown in the picture I took for you.  In the foreground is the simple white bistort and the pretty pink, yellow, and purplish shooting star.

The blue flower adding an extra layer of beauty to Summit Meadow is the lovely Camas Lily.  It belongs to the Lily Family.  The Camus Lily is one of the most beautiful flowers to be found in wet mountain meadows.

• Crane Flat (May to June) and.
• Summit Meadow (June to July).

From Yosemite Wildflower Trails by Dana C. Morgenson.

"One of the most pleasant aspects of the rim country is the number of fine mountain meadows to be enjoyed.  Both roads and trails offer the traveler a splendid selection, and the month of July brings them to their peak of flowering beauty.  The large meadow at Crane Flat and Summit Meadow on the Glacier Point Road are excellent examples.  Each one has rather similar floral displays, the Crane Flat Meadow (which is somewhat lower in elevation) reaching its best stage in early July, with Summit Meadow doing so about two weeks later. (depending on the year's snow pack).

"When the shooting stars are in their prime, another unusual flower will be found sharing the boggy meadow areas.  This one is the Camas Lily (Camassia leichtlinii ssp. suksdorfii), a deep blue to violet blossom of true elegance.  A single erect stem, 1 to 3 feet high, rises from a whorl of long basal leaves, bearing at its tip 4 to 12 blossoms.

Each blossom consists of six petals, long and pointed, star-like, surrounding six stamens with bright golden anthers at their tips.  The contrast between this brilliant gold and the royal blue of the petals is striking, while the clean lines of the flower's structure make it especially graceful.  Camus buds open late in the day, and the blossoms wither by the next day's light, so one should plan to seek them in the afternoon.

A meadowy expanse of these richly colored blue-purple lilies, accented with pink shooting stars, is an experience not to be forgotten." 

Camus Lily is found between 2000-8000'.  All of the western Indians depended on Camas bulbs as a staple in their diet.  Norman F. Weeden's A Sierra Nevada Flora, "The bulbs are edible raw or cooked or dried and ground into flour.  The seeds are also edible.  These plants possess one of the most beautiful flowers in the Sierra and should be eaten only in emergencies."

Camas comes from the Chinook language.....and means sweet.  Stay in a Scenic Wonders' vacation home....sweet dreams. Visit Summit Meadow where the sweet Camas Lily grows.

Another terrific day in Yosemite