Toxicoscordion Species, Nuttall's Death Camas, Poison Camas, Poison Sego

Nuttall deathcamas is found in the eastern third of Texas on open prairies, on hillsides with calcareous rocks and in post oak areas. Thi...Read Mores plant is seldom noticed except for the short period when it is in bloom. Deathcamas contains alkaloids toxic to all livestock species, but it causes very few poisonings because it is unpalatable. Animals consuming as little as 0.25 percent of their body weight of green plants may display signs of poisoning in a few hours. Sheep have been known to eat the young plants in early spring when other forage is scarce. However, most of the deathcamas in Texas grows where there are few sheep. Humans have been poisoned after mistaking the bulbs for onions. The name deathcamas comes from the fact is looks very similar to the totally unrelated species Camassia. I found this growing in pastures N of Buffalo, TX.