 |
| Death Camas amid the grasses |
Primarily due to their inability to move around to escape danger, plants have developed an array of weapons to defend themselves against predators. Some defenses are physical, such as thorns or stinging hairs, and others are chemical, mostly in the form of poisons or toxins. After these harmful chemicals are produced by the plants, they are locked away in parts of the its cells called vacuoles, spaces within the cell that are enclosed by a membrane, protecting the plant from contamination.
The most common way that people or animals come in contact with poisonous plants is to accidentally eat them. While we don’t normally eat the plants in our landscapes, widely planted ornamentals that are non-native and toxic include oleander, daffodil, elephant ear, iris, wisteria, and azalea. Native plants can be toxic too, and there are two species in the Lily Family blooming this time of year that are fairly common but known to be toxic. They are Death Camas (Zigadenus nuttallii) and Crow Poison (Nothoscordum bivalve), and just their common names give them away!
 |
| The clustered flower head of Death Camas |
Death Camas, also known as Nuttall’s Death Camas, Poison Camas, Poison-onion, and Poison Sego, is a perennial flower growing 1 to 2 feet tall, with narrow basal leaves up to 15 inches long. A stout stem arises from a large, black-coated bulb, with a round-topped cluster of up to 60 cream-colored, 0.5 inch blooms growing around the top. It blooms from February to April and is found in open prairies, woodland edges, and rocky hillsides in central and northeast Texas.
 |
| Death Camas is a good early nectar source for butterflies |
All parts of this plant are poisonous, even when dry. While unpalatable, livestock has been known to eat it, but typically only in early spring when not much else is available. While not in the same genus as edible Camas (Camassia sp.), humans have been poisoned, mistaking the bulbs for wild onion.
 |
| Crow Poison is often mistaken for wild onion |
Crow Poison, also known as Crowpoison and False Garlic, is one of the first flowers to appear in early spring throughout most of Texas. Looking much like wild onion, it grows from a bulb but has fewer, larger white flowers about 0.5 inch across in loose clusters atop 8 to 16 inch stalks, and lacks the characteristic onion odor when crushed. Its basal leaves are narrow and 4 to 15 inches long, and it is found in lawns, open slopes, prairies, disturbed sites, open woodlands, and roadsides, where it often forms large colonies.
 |
| Crow Poison blooms in loose clusters |
When dug up, it will have a cluster of attached bulbs underground. While this plant is minimally toxic to humans, it gets its common name from grain farmers’ past practice of crushing its bulbs and mixing them with a handful of grain to be left out for crows to eat. In turn, the crows would get sick, with some dying, signaling the surviving crows to move on to other sources of grain.
Now those are some pretty risky lilies!
