Definition of death camas:
(n) :
A member of a species of poisonous perennial flowering plants, Toxicoscordion venenosum (formerly Zigadenus venosus), easily confused with the edible camas, whose bulbs (rhizomes) look, but do not smell, like onion.
(n) :
(more generally) A member of any of various similar species, also called star lilies, of tribe Melanthieae in family Melanthiaceae, and formerly grouped into the genus Zigadenus (only Zigadenus glaberrimus remains there).