Flower ID: Single Purple Wild flower

As a child, I recall finding a single purple flower with an onion-like root, in the mountains nera Banff. It's probably about 2-3 inches tall and I have not been able to find out the name of this flower. I've asked many people including an expert, but have not found the name yet. I do not have a photo, just the one in my memory.
Does anyone know of the wild flower?

 

Camassia quamash?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camassia-quamash-flowers.JPG

 

Thanks for your reply saltcedar.
It is very similar and probably the closest ID so far, to the flower I had in mind. The bulb part is more oval. The purple flower is much like a tulip or daffodil in that it's one flower per instead of the flower stem branching out with additional flowers. The flowers were all very small like a blade of grass height and no taller. Am I making any sense?
Maybe that flower is now extinct as it's been years and not one positive ID yet.

 

Lewisia pygmaea or similar?

 

Scilla siberica?

 

On bedrock outcroppings at Deception Pass for instance the camas is very small, although there is usually more than one flower. Does your plant have the same flower shape as camas, or is it different? There are several other native bulbs found in local rocky places but the presence of only one flower is not usual with any of them, although very dwarfed specimens might be so limited, I suppose.

What kind of leaf structure are we talking about?

 

Thanks for the replies but they are not the flower.
Further information: bulb was edible and used for medicinal purposes. The flower was a lavender colour and similar to the camas but more tulip-like. It liked to grow near deer droppings.

 

Well, if all else fails, you can go through the listing of plant species of Banff and Jasper: Ecological Land Classification of Banff and Jasper National Parks (PDf, @ 50MB). The Vascular Plant Checklist runs from page 536 (page 515 in the report) to page 545 in the PDF (report page 524). Skip Gramineae, Cyperaceae, the ferns and the conifers (probably best to start with Liliaceae). Using Google as a search engine, do

site:linnet.geog.ubc.ca "plant name"

to search for images of the plant species from E-Flora BC.

 

Probably a species of Brodiaea, Dichelostemma or Triteleia, depending on what is present in that area. I had these in mind from the start, but their flowering consisting of solitary ~tulip-shaped ones is not the usual impression.

 

Not shown (below) quite as far north as Banff but Calochortus apiculatus does produce small numbers of tulip-shaped flowers, usually white but sometimes streaked purple, and the genus has a history of edible/medicinal use. One flower open with another still in bud is a typical presentation.

http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?object_id=8147&flora_id=1

 

Thanks Ron. I think that is very close. I am unable to find an actual full picture that includes the bulb, to confirm.

 

Among the purple BC folks, Calochortus macrocarpus would fit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calochortus_macrocarpus

 

Not 2-3 inches tall, though. 2 feet, maybe.

 

Which of the suggested species?

 

Calochortus macrocarpus is about 2 feet tall.

 

Wow! It's a real giant! Although, our sego lily, Calochortus nittallii is also described as 2-4(5) dm tall, but it never looks like that, probably, due to its elegance.

 

The flower I am searching for is definitely is not 2 feet tall. It's about 2 inches. Never realized there were so many flowers, until I started searching for this one flower.

 

Well, it'd be an exceptional one that is that height, I guess. Perhaps more typically 4.5 dm.

 

There won't be any other native edible bulb that has flowers like a Calochortus. I think I saw a page online that said the C. apiculatus was the only one in Alberta - indeed the page linked to above only mentions BC for C. macrocarpus. Since numbers of common camas are very short on bedrock outcroppings near Puget Sound they Calochortus probably also grows in a dwarfed condition under certain circumstances.