Flower Garden Lovers

Wild Hyacinth or Atlantic Camas in the Wildflower Garden

We had to do quite a bit of research on this one. Apparently the nomenclature has changed a bit. If you want this wildflower in your wildflower garden then you should be looking for the Camassia scilloides or as it is more commonly known, the Atlantic camas or wild hyacinth. In several states, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, it is considered threatened or endangered by the feds or the state.

In Illinois, where they are apparently undergoing a replanting effort, they have a propagation procedure listed. They are setting out the "plugs" in state parks, highway roadsides and limited private lands. If anyone is interested in the procedure they use to go from seed to planting plug, drop us a line.

It appears that where you can find this wildflower depends upon your region. In Illinois it prefers the mesic prairies. In the southeast it's mostly found in wetlands though you can find it in non-wetlands. Other areas, the northeast for instance, you are just as likely to find it in either location. You will not find the wild hyacinth in standing water but they do need plenty of water in the springtime to have adequate bloom.

It needs a minimum of 100 frost-free days but can withstand -28 degrees. The wild hyacinth is shade tolerant. Fact is, if your early spring, May, is hot, you will want to give this wildflower some afternoon shade so it will bloom longer. This plant can be propagated by seed or by bulb and it has a slow vegetative spread rate. As you can guess by the fact it is found in wetlands, it has very little drought resistance not making it too good for western gardens unless you take that into account.

Now enjoy the entry from our old wildflower compendium.

WILD HYACINTH
SCILLA or SQUILL. QUAMASH
(Quamasia hyacinthina; Scilla Fraseri of Gray) Lily family

Flowers - Several or many, pale violet blue, or rarely white, in a long, loose raceme; perianth of 6 equal, narrowly oblong, widely spreading divisions, the thread-like filaments inserted at their bases; style thread-like, with 3-lobed stigma. Scape: 1 to 2 ft. high, from egg-shaped, nearly black bulb, 1 to 1 1/2 in. long.

Leaves: Grass-like, shorter than flowering scape, from the base.

Fruit: A 3-angled, oval capsule containing shining black seeds.

Preferred Habitat - Meadows, prairies, and along banks of streams.

Flowering Season - April-May.

Distribution - Pennsylvania and Ohio westward to Minnesota, south to Alabama and Texas.

Coming with the crocuses, before the snow is off the ground, and remaining long after their regal gold and purple chalices have withered, the Siberian scillas sold by seedsmen here deserve a place in every garden, for their porcelain-blue color is rare as it is charming; the early date when they bloom makes them especially welcome; and, once planted and left undisturbed, the bulbs increase rapidly, without injury from overcrowding. Evidently they need little encouragement to run wild. Nevertheless they are not wild scillas, however commonly they may be miscalled so. Certainly ladies' tresses, known as wild hyacinth in parts of New England, has even less right to the name.

Our true native wild hyacinth, or scilla, is quite a different flower, not so pure a blue as the Siberian scilla, and paler; yet in the middle West, where it abounds, there are few lovelier sights in spring than a colony of these blossoms directed obliquely upward from slender, swaying scapes among the lush grass. Their upward slant brings the stigma in immediate contact with an incoming visitor's pollen-laden body. As the stamens diverge with the spreading of the divisions of the perianth, to which they are attached, the stigma receives pollen brought from another flower, before the visitor dusts himself anew in searching for refreshment, thus effecting cross-pollination. Ants, bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, and beetles may be seen about the wild hyacinth, which is obviously best adapted to the bees. The smallest insects that visit it may possibly defeat Nature's plan and obtain nectar without fertilizing the flower, owing to the wide passage between stamens and stigma. In about an hour, one May morning, Professor Charles Robertson captured over six hundred insects, representing thirty-eight distinct species, on a patch of wild hyacinths in Illinois.

One other note about the wild hyacinth. It is considered a human food source. Apparently, according to Wildflowers Perennials for Your Garden by Bebe Miles, the bulbs were so relished by Native Americans, that wars were fought over good stands. It was used by them in a variety of ways. It can be baked or dried and made into a powder which can be used as a thickener in stews or as an additive to flour when making baked goods such as bread and cakes.

I guess on that note this wildflower could make an excellent addition to your wildflower garden. Not only is it a pretty plant as you can see in the photo below, but if you get hungry you can harvest it from your garden and bake it up to serve to the family.

Robert H. Mohlenbrock @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA SCS. 1989. Midwest wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide to plant species. Midwest National Technical Center, Lincoln, NE.

© 2005, Sandra Dinkins-Wilson

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© 2005, Sandra Dinkins-Wilson. Find more articles for Flower Garden Lovers at our informative website, http://flowergardenlovers.com.
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