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PONDEROSA PINE (aka yellow Pine) |
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| BLACK COTTONWOOD- CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW OF IMAGE |
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Size at 120 years: 60-120 feet tall, 1-3 feet in diameter Life Span: 120 years Leaves: 3-6" long, egg-shaped, tapering to a point, edges notched, dark green. Fruit: 1/3-1/2" long, 3 valved, pubescent Bark: Tawny yellow to gray and smooth on young trees, turning dark gray and deeply furrowed in older trees. The tallest native western hardwood. The wood is used for boxes and crates. The hard, unripe seeds have been adapted for pea-shooter ammunition. The released seeds form the familiar "summer snow," carried on the wind by their cottony filaments. Native American people on the coast made dugout canoes from black cottonwood. Also, the Okanagan people made cottonwood into sideboards for riding and cradles to flatten their children's heads. Cottonwood burns well and was used to make friction fire sets. Ashes were used to make a cleanser for hair and buckskin clothing. The Thompson people produced soap from the inner bark. The Hudson's Bay Company reportedly continued using their method, combining the inner bark with tallow. First Nations people used the resin from buds to treat sore throats, coughs, lung pain and rheumatism. An ointment, called balm of Gilead, was made from the winter buds of balsam poplar to relieve congestion The buds contain a waxy resin with anti-infectant properties still used in many modern natural health ointments. Bees collect it and use it to seal off intruders, such as mice, which might decay and infect the hive. |
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| CHOKECHERRY- CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW OF IMAGE |
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It is usually a shrub, although it sometimes “generates” into a tree And usually has twisted or crooked trunk with narrow, irregular crowns. Size: 1 to 4 meters tall Fruit: round, shiny, black or crimson cherries 15 mm in diameter Which are edible but bitter and very popular with birds. Blooms: small, 5 petaled, white, numerous clusters at the end of the twig (resembling a bottle brush) and blooms in May and June. Bark: dark reddish-brown to greyish-brown that is smooth and doesn't peel readily. Now, above it has been described as being “bitter”, however, I grew up at a time and in a region that made great use of this “tree” and let me tell you, find someone that knows what they are doing and you will get yourself some fantastic edibles including: cherries, wine, juice, syrup, jelly. Native Americans had this in many instances as a staple for their diet and was heavily relied on for storage for wintertime; they also used it for: food (often dried); wood: handles; bark: tonic, shredded for decorating baskets and as a twine |
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| DOUGLAS FIR- CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW OF IMAGE |
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Size at 120 years: 110-170 feet tall, 3-4 feet in diameter Life Span: 300 years Needles: 3/4 to 1 1/4" long. Flattened all around the twig. Soft to the touch. Cones: Cylindrical cones. 2-3" long with 3 pointed bract protruding from scales Bark: Dark gray brown. Corky looking, deeply furrowed in mature trees. Inside furrows often rust red. Native Americans in this area had many uses for Douglas-fir: wood and the boughs as fuel for pit cooking; for fishing hooks and for handles; and Douglas-fir boughs were frequently used for covering the floors of lodges and sweat lodges. One of the world's most important timber species, used for veneer for plywood, and as mine timbers because of their strength. Grouse, deer, and elk like to eat the foliage. Currently, the Kootenai (Kootenai National Forest) is infested by the douglas-fir bark beetle which uses these trees as breeding grounds, which eventually kills the trees. |
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| ENGLEMANN SPRUCE- CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW OF IMAGE |
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Size at 200 years: 80-150 feet tall, 1 1/2-2 1/2 feet in diameter Life Span: 350 years Needles: 5/8 to 1" long. Stiff and sharp. Disagreeable odor when crushed Cones: 2" long with thin, papery scales Bark: Gray or purplish-brown, very thin and loosely attached scales Native Americans used peeled, split, and soaked spruce root to sew the seams of bark baskets. The Salish and Athapaskan peoples used the split roots to make tightly woven coiled baskets. Sheets of spruce bark were made into cooking baskets and canoes. The bark was used by the Thompson people for roofing and by the Lillooet people for baby carriers. |
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| GRAND FIR (aka White Fir)- CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW OF IMAGE |
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Size at 120 years: 110-160 feet tall, 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 feet in diameter Life Span: 250 years Needles: Flat, in 2 rows, 1-2" long, dark green and shiny, silvery white beneath Cones: Upright, 2-4" long, green, maturing to brown Bark: Brown, smooth, with resin blisters, becoming deeply furrowed with age Native Americans place great faith in the healing properties of the fragrant, transparent gum pinched from resin blisters found on the smooth barked, young trees. The Okanagan people built canoes from grand fir bark and rubbed its pitch on paddles to give them a good finish. They also applied pitch to the back of bows to provide a secure grip. Kwakwaka'wakw shamans wove branches into headdresses and costumes; they also used branches for scrubbing before rites and rituals. The Hesquiat made branches into incense and decorative clothing for wolf dancers. They also rubbed the pitch mixed with oil on their scalps as a perfume and to prevent baldness. |
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Size at 100 years: 70-110 feet tall, 1-2 feet in diameter Life Span: 150 years Needles: 1-3" long, in bundles of 2 Cones: 3/4 to 2" long, eggshaped with small prickle on each scale Bark: Black to reddish brown, thin and scaly The lodgepole pine occurs in areas where forest fires are common. The cones will stay on the trees tightly closed until the heat of a fire causes the cones to open and drop seed to begin a new forest. Native Americans prized the lodgepole for making teepee supports and travois poles. Many First Nations peoples used the wood from lodgepole pine for a variety of purposes, including poles for lodges, homes or buildings. In the spring, they stripped off long ribbons or "noodles" of the sweet succulent inner bark (cambium layer). It was eaten fresh in the spring, sometimes with sugar, or stored. The pitch was used as a base for many medicines. It was boiled, mixed with animal fat, and used as a poultice for rheumatic pain and all kinds of aches and soreness in muscles and joints. Pitch was also chewed to relieve sore throats.
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