
The Methow Valley in
north central Washington is a paradise of plants that explodes with color
during the short period between the bitter cold winters and the dry dusty
summers. For the last several years on mother’s day weekend, Katrina and I have
traveled over the Cascade Crest to explore eastside edibles, hunt for morels,
and participate in the Sunflower Run. The snowpack on Highway 20 was so deep
this year that it took crews until May 8
th to clear the road. Similarly,
the wildflowers were delayed in their phenology. I had the pleasure of catching
the Yellow Bells (
Fritillaria pudica)
in bloom for the first time in the Methow Valley, and got my first taste of
this delicate but filling root vegetable.
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Immature seed capsule |
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Yellow Bell bulb with bulblets |
It is easy to see that
Yellow Bell is closely related to two edible lilies found on the west side.
Like Chocolate Lily (
Fritillaria affinis)
and Northern Riceroot (
F. camschatcensis),
Yellow Bell has a bulbous root that is surrounded by numerous bulblets that
resemble grains of rice. These break off easily while being dug by bears,
rodents, humans, and other animals, and are an important mechanism of plant
regeneration. The large central bulb begins to push up a sprout when the first
fall rains moisten forest openings in the pine forests, but this sprout stays
far enough below the soil surface to avoid damage from the ensuing bite of winter
cold. With a head start on the spring, the plant grows rapidly as soon as the
snow has melted and takes advantage of the ample soil moisture to sprout an
upright stem with 2-8 sporadically arranged narrow leaves, and 1-3 hanging
bell-shaped flowers that emerge yellow and age to a bright orange. The
petals blush and fall away quickly after the flowers have been pollinated (hense the species epithet
pudica meaning "shy" in Latin) and the stems straighten
to produce upright cylindrical seed pods that split into three chambers and disperse
flattened seeds.
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Yellow Bell grows in
shrub-steppe and mixed coniferous forests at low to mid elevations. They can be
found east of the Cascade crest from Kamloops Lake in southern British Columbia
southward to the Klamath Mountains and Modoc Plateau in northern California. They
are also found sporadically throughout the Rocky Mountains south of Kimberly BC
to northwest Colorado. The eastward range extends through
Montana and a few places in North Dakota.

Yellow Bells are probably
a traditional food among all the Native American tribes that share the plant's range.
The Nlaka’pamux (Thompson), Shuswap, Syilx (Okanogan), Spokan, Paiute, Blackfoot,
and Ute ate the bulbs fresh, steamed, or boiled (
Moerman). The Nlaka’pamux and
Sylix welcomed the flowers as an early sign of spring, and immediately
collected the bulbs (Teit 1930) along with those of Glacier Lily (
Erythronium grandiflorum); these roots
were often steamed in an earthen pit for 15 minutes and then sun dried on mats
for use throughout the rest of the year (Turner et al. 1980; Turner et al.
1990).
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Mt. Potato (left) and Yellow Bell (right) |
Challenged by my camping
companions to produce a wild food meal, I set out with my diggings stick to
locate some Yellow Bells. I found them growing abundantly in an open Ponderosa
Pine and Douglas Fir forest with Mountain Potatoes (
Claytonia lanceolata). Since they are relatively shallow rooted plants, I was
able to dig both species out of the gravelly soil quickly. To ensure future harvests, I
replanted the flat rootlet-covered disc at the base of each Yellow Bell bulb as well as all the small
bulblets that easily broke from the main bulb. After 45 minutes, I had about 15
Yellow Bell bulbs and 50 Mountain Potato tubers- enough for a meal. Yellow Bell bulbs are the shape of pattypan squash and have a starchy bland
flavor when raw. I boiled them with the Mountain Potato tubers, roasted
sausage, and some wild rice that I had brought along, and seasoned the broth
with freshly harvested Bare-stem Desert Parsley (
Lomatium nudicaule)
leaves.
Cooked, Yellow Bell bulbs are slightly sweeter than raw and have a smoother, corn starch texture. Though I only had time to harvest enough for a single serving,
the soup was a hit and everyone got a taste.
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A lineup of Yellow Bell bulbs, the one on the left still has the basal disc attached |
Yellow Bells have a
similar nutrient profile to a potato but have 50 percent more protein, six
times as much calcium, and nearly 30 times more iron (Norton et al. 1984). At
64 calories per 100g fresh weight, Yellow Bell bulbs have more caloric value
than Common Camas (61 cal/100g) but less than Northern Riceroot (98 cal/100g).
Yellow Bells are slightly higher in fat and much higher in calcium but lower in
carbohydrates than both Common Camas and Northern Riceroot (Kuhnlein and Turner
1991).
Sources:
Kuhnlein, Harriet V. and
Nancy J. Turner 1991. “Traditional Plant Foods of Canadian Indigenous Peoples,
Nutrition, Botany, and Use.” Food and Nutrition in History and Anthropology,
Volume 8, Gordon and Breach Publishers.
Norton, Helen H., Eugen
S. Hunn, C. S. Martinsen, and P. B. Keely 1984. “Vegetable Food Products of the
Foraging Economies of the Pacific Northwest.” Ecology of Food and Nutrition,
Volume 14, pages 219-228.
Teit, James 1930. “Ethnobotany
of the Thompson Indians of British Columbia.” Annual report of the Bureau of
American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, US
Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Turner, Nancy J. Randy
Bouchard, and Dorothy Kennedy 1980. “Ethnobotany of the Okanagan-Colville
Indians of British Columbia and Washington.” Occasional Paper Series No. 21, British
Columbia Provincial Museum, Victoria BC.
Turner, Nancy J.,
Laurence C. Thompson, M. Terry Thompson, and Annie Z. York 1990. “Thompson
Ethnobotany, Knowledge and Usage of Plants by the Thompson Indians of British
Columbia.” Royal British Columbia Museum Memoir No. 3. Victoria, BC.
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