Foothill Deathcamas

Deathcamas plants are beautiful but deadly! All parts of the plant contain toxic steroidal alkaloids that cause cardiovascular failure. Eating the leaves, stems, and flowers generally poisons animals. All parts of the plant are toxic throughout the year; however, poisoning occurs most often in the spring when deathcamas is relatively abundant.

Deathcamas flowers in the Great Basin have a special relationship with just one species of bee! The bee Andrena astragali is a narrow oligolege, collecting pollen solely from two nearly identical species of deathcamas (Toxicoscordion, formerly Zigadenus). Only A. astragali bees were regularly seen visiting flowering panicles of these Toxicoscordion.

Indigenous people used foothill deathcamas as an emetic. They also made poultices from the bulb which they used to treat a variety of conditions including sprains, toothache and rheumatism.

Here in the Truckee Meadows, foothill deathcamas can be found growing in sagebrush steppe in parks such as Washoe Lake, Hidden Valley, and Galena Creek.