Toxicoscordion exaltatum

Giant death camas

Family: Melanthiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Giant death camas is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada Foothills in meadows and wooded slopes at elevations of 600 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces white flowers in an open panicle 20 to 40 centimeters long with perianth parts 5 to 12 millimeters long. Growing with tall, glabrous stems 30 to 100 centimeters high emerging from a large ovoid bulb 20 to 60 millimeters in diameter with a dark brown outer coat. Its leaves are long and narrow, extending 20 to 60 centimeters in length and 5 to 30 millimeters wide, with scabrous-ciliate margins. The fruit is an oblong capsule 10 to 25 millimeters long, produced on spreading pedicels in fruit.

Habitat: Meadows, wooded slopes

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 600-1500 m

Bioregions: SNF.

California counties: Kern, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Butte, Madera, Tulare

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.