Born, & raised in the mountains. Hiked, & camped all my life. Never have I heard that there was a poisonous wild onion copycat. This is a prime example of why I still make it a point to learn something new every day.

This is why I always research “poisonous lookalikes” before trying any wild edible, because not every resource will mention them, you have to intentionally look for it. I never knew wild onions had a poisonous lookalike, but good thing the smell is distinct. I wouldn’t eat it if it doesn’t smell like an onion.

“I’m 100% confident in eating this plant” *CRUNCH* “UH OH”

Oh nice. So after finding out what I have always called wild onions are actually garlic from watching numerous videos on wild onions vs wild garlic not one of them mentioned death camas and I ran across this video by accident. Had I picked a death camas I would've ate it. Thanks, you possibly saved my life.

Wow completely misjudged at the beginning because of the bulb.

My wife freaked out about this years ago because I love wild onions. I told her not to worry. If it doesn't taste and smell like an onion, spit it out. Danger averted.

Wow I'm glad that you made this I have a ton of the death camas in my flower bed and my boyfriend thought they were onions and had planned on eating them . I'm so glad this showed up in my feed

Got some in my yard. My older brother insisted they were onions. Agreed to taste it. They were not. Turns out they're actually called crows poisen. Spit them out and was fine with minor stomach pain. The taste stayed in my mouth for a while after that.

The leaves of wild onions are hollow, death camas aren't.

OMG I would have chosen the one that looks like an onion bulb! Thank you so much! Sharing.

This might be where the old saying "Know your onions" came from...

Man, you have most definitely saved me and my wife and kids by the grace of God. We have never picked wild onions ever. Then, 3-4 weeks ago we saw what look like a scallion or an onion and we planned to pick it up in mid July. Thank you very much. I wish you would talked about the smell of the deadly look alike.

My dad sent me to your video, I have thousands of wild onions growing in my front yard and did not know there were poisonous lookalikes! Thank you for sharing.

I was camping years ago in the Columbia Gorge. After hiking for many miles I lay in a meadow to rest. I had the strong scent of onions. I pulled the onion like plant. It looked like an onion, it had a strong onion smell and a little taste was very onion like. I had read about the Camas Death lilly and was quite afraid of mixing them up. . But being young and fool-hardy, I picked a bunch and brought them back to the camp site. My friend had caught several trout in the creek next to us, so we fried them up together. It was a delicious meal. Fortunately they were onions.

Wow thank you!!! Man I'm glad I watched this

Wow, I just came upon your video by accident and am so glad I did. I have picked the Death Camas this year to store having been told it was a wild garlic onion. I very much appreciate you taking the time to video this. You saved me from a world of hurt. I am grateful.

Note: “Death Camas” is a white flowered camas; the camas which blooms BLUE is edible and quite delicious…the bulb being somewhat of a mix between onion and potato. White (“death”) camas is quite rare here, but does occur, so ALWAYS make sure the plant you are harvesting is in bloom and has a BLUE flower. Interestingly, the opposite is true with wild iris (“blue flag / white flag”) where the blue is toxic and the white is edible.

Great video. Been eating wild onions for years. Lookalikes are extremely important to be able to identify.

You just unlocked a deep childhood memory of mine, rummaging around my garden in Australia for these! I never ate them though, just like making "witches potions" with them as a kid, 😂

Never heard of the camus onion. Down here in Louisiana we have an abundance of wild onions that are super strong in flaver. This is a good tip in case we have that camus variety here. Great tutorial. 👍👍👍

Thanks my grandfather always told me not to eat wild onions cuz some where poisonous and now I know how to tell the difference. Big thumbs up

When I go fishing for cut throat trout in the mountains, I like to take foil and some butter, and harvest wild onions and cook on a fire. I have also found morels in the are as well. What’s insane is I never knew about the poisonous lookalike before. Thanks.

Make sure it smells like an onion if your not sure just by looking at it!!

I never knew there was a poisonous look a like. I used to grab these out of my aunt's yard. Thanks for the video.

Crush the leaves. Death camas has no onion odor. Around here we have *_Toxicoscordion_* *_paniculatum_* to worry about, but the greatest danger, evidently, is confusing it with edible camas, *_Camassia_* *_quamash_* which is supposedly a fine edible, but sadly I have not tried it. While onions can be a good trail snack, I hear that regular camas isn't good until cooked.

I live in Missouri and have eaten wild onions so many times especially when i was young. I didn't even know there was a a poisonous variant! I did always check for the onion smell though before i ate any. My nose never failed me.

I live in ohio, and I think wild garlic really resembles those death camas plants you have there. I could see being used to the plants here, going to a different part of the us, and thinking this is the same thing. Scary, actually, although the wild garlic has hollow leaves, and it also has an obvious garlic/onion/leak smell and taste to it, but the bulb looks almost identical.

Thank you for this! I just pulled up some wild carrots from my driveway and people should be aware that the green carrot tops closely resemble poison hemlock!! what I do is always smell everything to make sure it is what I’m looking for and I scratch the root and sniff to make sure it smells like carrots

I've seen these edible onions in my backyard but I was never sure about them. Thank you for making this video!

Wow, and here I thought I had wild onions growing in my yard. Smelled like 'em...then I took a moment to Google the images and watched your video. My fiancé thanks you for not having to cart me off to the emergency room!! :-0 Thank you so much for posting this video. :-)

I believe that the "death" camas only grows in the west. The wild onions in the southeast are a round stalk. Of the wild onions in the southeast, I was taught that the onion (round stalk) when broken into needed to show that it was hollow on the inside, like a straw. Most of southeast's wild onions are a wild garlic that is non-indigenous, with a bloom that turns into top sets as seeds. I did find that there are blue camas, black camas, and death camas listed, the blue camas has a different color of flower. The black camas was a Native American dish, where the camas was cooked for hours to make it edible, but it may not be the same plant as the death camas. The black camas dish by Native Americans was cooked for hours, until it was cooked down & caramelized, long enough to change the plant's consistency from a non digestible form of sugar, into an edible dish. So, is there a difference between the death camas, and the 'black camas,' and 'blue camas?'

The onion smells like onions and the death Camus doesn't smell like onions.

Holy shit... I pulled a couple of these "wild onions" from my garden, which is very small and not well maintained, a few days ago. I took the outer layer of the white bulb off, sprinkled some salt on and chewed them up a bit but spit them both out into the sink. The flavor just didn't seem right. The next day the skin on my inner cheeks pretty much all peeled off and had the craps terribly. I just assumed it was from eating to much homemade, very hot chicken tenders the night before. What are the odds this showed up on my recommended videos at 12:30am right before falling asleep??? Thank you so much for the info! I honestly thought they were wild onions and have been told by many people, who I thought were knowledgeable, that they were just wild onions. Looks like I'll be informing them the next few days. I'm in the Kenosha, WI area btw. Is this death camas located all over the US?

Thank you for sharing these wisdoms for free. I love your videos. You speak so calmly and I feel the joy in your work. I love that. I love learning and learning about relationship with the rest of nature and working with it more mindfully feels so important. I’m growing nodding onions now! I see what you mean and will keep my eye out for the difference between them and death camas if I ever seek them wild.

Thanks. Your thoughtfulness may save somebody’s life. Thank you again.

As someone who has a habit of giving myself food poisoning and recently made the brave (or stupid) decision of getting into collecting wild edibles, I am very grateful for this video. I would definitely die eating something I'm not supposed to, I'm going to be extra careful now! Thank you!

I am just saying....I absolutely love when cutting yard sometimes you'll hit a patch of wild onions and it just mixes with the fresh cut grass smell.... It just is a summer/spring comfort thing I've known my whole life. Lol. I actually love the light scent in the breeze on a sunny day ❤️ remind me of my childhood

Thanks for posting this, I have been eating wild garlic, which looks very close to the poisonous plant you're showing, only the leaves are more chive like in wild garlic. I would imagine smell would be a huge factor? I am not sure as I have never encountered the poisonous plant you're showing here( does it have a garlic smell to it?) Again thanks for your insight, this is stuff every child should know by age 12 in my humble opinion.

i barely go outside and never eat wild plants but still enjoyed this video and if one day i decide to go outdoors more i will always remember this

I like this video. To the point, short and no idle words.

The "death camas" looks more like the wild onions we have in the Southeast, with the more distinct bulb like that. I've never seen a wild onion with red anywhere on it, while that one is almost entirely red. I think there must be a very different variety in the Rockies there than we have here. It's good to know there are some wild lookalikes that are dangerous, though, and I'll look up whether that's found here too.

Nice video, I can find a lot of Death Camus in Alberta, but I’ve never looked for wild onions. I know they grow here, but I didn’t know the difference..thanks for the info..

Thanks for the interest and all the comments. If you are interested in wild onions, I'm currently working on a wild onion series. Here is a link to the first one: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pZ1ipJp3tcC3m5c.html

I heard about this from a top 15 video video but thank you for giving out more information

I would never eat something I thought was wild onion without smelling it first anyway, but now I know it's even more important.

Dude - you know a lot about onions! I appreciate you sharing your knowledge!

Wonderful and informative video, thank you for taking the time to make this and post it.

Enjoyed this very much and being old I learned something new and your teaching method was excellent

Thank you we have both on our property and I picked both I took a bite out of the death cammas and spit it out I just thought it didn’t taste good I’m so glad I watched now I know the difference

I remember hearing about this when I was a little kid in elementary, and some of the kids found some on the playground. But we didn't really know how to distinguish between the two.

Very great video! Thanks for that knowledge

Thank you for this! Most articles say it’s only out west, but further research showed that some species are in the southeast as well. I had no idea!

Lordy, I never knew this was a thing! Since I was a small child, I've been interested in wild food plants. I still have the library book on them I checked out when I was maybe 10 or 11. It was too interesting to me to return, so I paid for it and kept it. The author briefly mentions that there are "unsuitable" for eating onion like plants in some areas, but myself in Missouri and her in Arkansas, it seems neither of us likely ever ran into these dangerous plants, as they appear to be mainly found in the Western states, and not the Midwest. I have eaten and cooked with wild onions, wild garlic, wild chives or scallions many times in my life. I've always followed the advise of all my wild foods guides. If it looks like an onion, smell it. If it smells like an onion, it's okay, if it doesn't, throw it away, wash your hands and any tools used to gather the plant thoroughly. The one thing I will not try on my own, even with my guides is mushrooms. Too much can go wrong there. If I go mushroom hunting, I take a well seasoned hunter with me.

Very interesting and well done. I got here cause I saw a video on Cherokee cook who gathered her wild onions. I have SOME type of onion in my N.C. yard. They have a more slender "bulb" end than the camas your showing. I fear that some are seeing the folks gathering onions and Not be aware of camas. The Cherokee lady knows, but others may not be cautious. Thanks, You are helping people.

Great info. Thanks for putting this out !

I'm glad I knew the difference right away when I started the video. Great video helping others so important to know how to grow. My years of experiencing with growing crops has paid off from telling weeds from edible crops.

I'm highly disappointed that he didn't start acting like he was dying after eating the onion, then pop back on camera saying he was joking. Lol.

I'm glad I found your channel! I picked up a book - Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains by Harrington - a few years ago, but after reading a good portion of it I gave up because almost every edible plant seems to have a poisonous look-alike. I decided I wouldn't pursue edibles until I had someone knowledgeable to show me the differences. I'm looking forward to watching more of your videos. (I'm also in Colorado.)

Well you good sir are now added to my interesting and useful playlist. I keep all helpful resources there because you never know when you'll need to bring up a bit of knowledge.

Thanks for the nap, your voice is perfect for insomnia, you could go viral fast!

👍👍 Many an early settler fell prey to the death camis! Another good video would be on the beefsteak mushroom. The look exactly the same, only the real beefsteak you can eat, is a different shade of brown than the poisonous kind! I know, because I ate the wrong kind & puked my guts out! When I pick wild onions, the first thing I look for is the smell. If I don't smell it, I don't pick it!

I guess you learn something new every day, I didn't know there was a such thing as a poisonous onion, guess I've never seen one before.

A lot of folks also confuse wild garlic for wild onions. Garlic is mostly what you smell when mowing and they have a tube shape like green onions.

Thanks for the info! I really appreciate u bringing this to our attention! 👍👍😁

When I was a kid I loved to pick wild onions and roast them on the fire. Also I hope to grow such a beard as this man's some day.

Thank you kindly. I just came across your channel and am really impressed and grateful for the full walk though given. Getting into wild edibles is extremely tricky so it’s great to get good quality content. I’ll be learning from an expert in the field personally before I forage on my own but this helps a lot. 🙏

Just discovered your channel. Finally someone to teach me about the edible plants of the Rocky Mountains! I subscribed right away. Thank you

Thank you for posting this video, I really enjoyed it.

Aly is 63 ~ I'm 85! I have something growing in my yard that I had never seen before last week. I took a sample to the local greenhouse where they looked it up and told me it was wild garlic. According to what I learned here just now, I believe it's Death Camas. HELP! I just wish more time had been spent on Death Camas. Pretty scary as I depend on my garden to sustain me. Thanks for all your help! I look forward to seeing ALL of your videos!

I've been using wild onions in my rabit stew all my life, never knew about the death camas, wow

That’s the best video I’ve seen about this topic . I’ve seen maybe 8 others I’ll now subscribe to you 😊

you have a great way of explaining. i just subscribed.

Oh my God thank you so much

I think too many people are overreacting to the reality that in the plant world, there are plenty of lookalikes Get _three_ good field manuals, with keys, for your area. Read them over, then take them out for a walk. When you find a plant you'd like to harvest, go through identification with each manual using the keys, checking the plant against its identifying traits. You want to work through each manual. If you are positive that the plant passes each manual's tests, you have a positive identification you can trust. This works with mushrooms as well as plants, btw. Most mushrooms are not deadly, and most can be fairly easily identified one from another, except that with mushrooms often to make a positive identification you'll need to bring your mushroom specimens home for a spore print. As always, identify each and every specimen before you toss it into your stew. It's not unheard of for tasty edibles and toxic look alikes to grow side by side. If you have any doubt about a specimen, throw it out. Do these things, and you can forage safely. One other hint. There are plants so similar in appearance, one an edible the other deadly, that I personally do not harvest them. An example is cow parsnip (edible) and hemlock (deadly). But there are very few of those, and plenty of common safe edible wild plants and fungi which can, with a little inspection, be easily dentified.

Good to know!

You have me life saving information. Thank you!

I’m so glad I found you!!! I’m moving to CO in a week and I’m so excited to start learning about the areas nature. I’m a new forager and I’m super nervous, but have a good head on my shoulders and resources (including your channel). I’m working on my Naturopath and I’m getting comfortable using herbs that I grow or order so there’s no guessing what they are, but foraging I think might tanks me a long time to learn and feel comfortable. I’ve looked for nature walks in Pagosa Springs, but haven’t found any yet. I’ll keep searching for those locals who are willing to share their knowledge with me. My goal is to find and learn 3-5 this summer that I can identify and know their herbal actions and try several recipes for food and medicine. I’d love any suggestions you might have.

I dont like onions but have been hiking with people who pull them up and eat them. I dont think they know the difference they have just been lucky. I am glad I watched this.

Ur voice is so calming. Thanks for the info!!! 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜😇

I was weeding my dogs potty patch and found a 'wild onion' . I broke it open to smell it and there was no discernable onion smell. So I trashed it. Then I see this video. I was seriously considering using it in my stir fry when I first found it. Thank you so much. Bullet dodged.

I used to eat wild onion as a kid all the time. Once I got a stomach ache after chewing on one that tasted bitter. Only reason I remember this is because it's what made me stop eating them. I didn't know until now there was a poisonous species that looked like an onion.

Watched this and I knew there was a poisonous plant that looks like wild onion and tends to grow near it. Sometimes the smell of the wild onion being so close to the poison one makes it hard to do a smell test. Even with the new information I picked up in your video I think I'll still pass this one by.

Great video, thanks for some important information

Awesome video very informative . i Definetly learned some new and valuable knowledge from this . thank you 😀👍

One's mauve, the other is peach. Color is a good indicator. Then there's the under tongue test that will tell you the alkaloid/bitter taste which comes naturally to the Death Camas. Since it takes a relatively significant amount to do damage, a lick will only pick up enough to give an indication of toxicity. Inner caveman skills are good. Wouldn't share them in a video though, some people aren't the best at surviving, with the taste of poisonous things being something learned. Generally, drying mouth + offensively bitter taste + mouth tingling = poisonous. Crush and sniff, does X smell strange? If so that may be an indicator not to eat it, since most foods we eat are immediately identifiable by common oils in edible materials.

all the comments are experienced forragers being like "how dod i never hear about this???" myself included. 15 years ive been doing it.

I'm from across the pond but I really dig this stuff, grew up going to scouts. Subbed.

I’m glad I watched this! Thanks!

I was told as a kid to never eat the "wild onions" because they were poisonous. I was I was taught the difference between them. But I always loved the oniony smell you'd get some someone hit them with a lawn mower.

How come you didn't show us what the poison one tastes like? 😃 Interesting video.

I'm so glad I just found your channel, I'm in Georgia and this stuff I need to know

Excellent information and presentation. Thanks

Would you please recommend any publications that can help identify edible plants in the U.S.A.?

So what does the other plant smell like?? The one that’s dangerous?

Great video, thanks. I would enjoy seeing what the flowers of each plant look like.

Great video, thanks. I visited Colorado once in 1994. I saw the footprints of the mountain lion and saw some deer. It was a beautiful state.

This is why I don’t forage. When you plant your own garden you know what you’re eating.

Last fall I found chestnuts that ended up being horse chestnuts. Very poisonous.

Thank you! this was very helpful. I'll tell this to my family since we like to explore outdoors a lot.

New friends here from Trail Trash Outdoors! Always great to know what you can and cannot eat! Thanks for sharing!! Much love