Positive identification requires digging plants up and carefully removing soil from the roots with water and then carefully examining the fine roots for the white pear-shaped cysts. A magnifying lens may be helpful in identification. Late spring may lead to more death camas poisonings Death camas may be a problem this year. With the late spring, desirable forage may be less abundant early in the season. Livestock may forage heavily on death camas, which can cause severe losses.
Death camas is the common name of several species of plants that are poisonous to livestock.
The more toxic of these is grassy death camas. Plants usually have a single, unbranched stem that varies from eight to 30 inches in height. The leaves are basal, grasslike and V-creased. The yellow-brown flowers are arranged in a cluster at the end of the stem. The weed can be mistaken for wild onion, which has tubular leaves and an onion smell.