|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|||
| MOUNTAIN
ALDER- CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW OF IMAGE |
|||
|
|||
|
small tree or
coarse shrub, often occurring in clumps LOCATION:
throughout BC, east of the Coast and Cascade mountains SIZE:
2 to 10 meters in height tree or shrub FRUIT:
seed cones on a short stalk; the seeds or nutlets have very narrow
wings FLOWERS:
long (3 to 4 cm), drooping catkins (male) LEAVES:
thin, oval-shaped, rounded or blunt tip BARK:
yellowish-brown WOOD
CHARACTERISTICS: very hard USES: traditional - wood: bows, snowshoes, smoking and drying salmon and meat, eating utensil and dishes, source of dye and hide tanning substance; bark: dye, fish nets, medicine to stop bleeding |
|||
|
|
|||
| MOUNTAIN
HEMLOCK- CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW OF IMAGE |
|||
|
|||
|
Size
at 200 years: 50-100 feet tall, 2-4 feet
in diameter Life
Span: 250 years Needles:
Short stalked, half-rounded or angled, 1/4 to 1" long,
blue-green. Usually crowded or whorled at end of twig and curved
upwards. Cones:
1-2 1/2" long, usually purplish or green, turning brown. Bark:
Reddish-brown, deeply furrowed into narrow ridges. Bark has a tendency
to twist around the bole. |
|||
|
|
|||
| PACIFIC
YEW- CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW OF IMAGE |
|||
|
|||
|
Size
at 150 years: 15-30 feet tall, 6" to
1 foot in diameter Life
Span: 300 years Needles:
1/2 to 3/4 inches long, in two rows along branch flattened, short
points at both ends, soft and flexible deep yellow-green above light
green with two whitish bands beneath. Fruit:
Elliptical seeds 1/4" long, stalkless, blunt pointed, enclosed in
a scarlet cup. Bark:
Purplish-brown, very thin with red-brown papery scales. Native
Americans traditionally used the Yew for archery bows and canoe
paddles. In 1991, researchers discovered that a drug called taxol
could be extracted from the bark. Taxol has found to be effective in
controlling ovarian and other types of cancer. Trees are either female
(with the seed) or male, containing a pollen bud. |
|||
|
|
|||
| PONDEROSA
PINE (aka Yellow Pine)- CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW OF IMAGE |
|||
|
|||
|
Size
at 150 years: 120-180 feet tall, 2 1/2 to 4 feet in diameter Life
Span: 300 years Needles:
5-10" long, in bundles of 3, sometimes 2 on the same twig Cones:
4-6" long. Conical or egg shaped, with outward pointed prickles Bark:
Black on young trees, yellow-brown on large scaly plates on mature
trees The lumber of
the ponderosa pine is valuable, often being used for window frames
& panel doors. Quail & nutcrackers consume the seeds.
Squirrels and chipmunks often store the seeds in caches, thus aiding
their dispersal. Loggers call this yellow pine or bull pine. Native
Americans had many uses for ponderosa pine. They ate the seeds and
inner bark of both the ponderosa and the whitebark pine. Some used the
wood for making dugout canoes. They used the pitch for waterproofing
moccasins and other items. They also mixed it with bear grease and
used it as an ointment for sores and inflamed eyes. |
|||
|
|
|||
| SUBALPINE
FIR- CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW OF IMAGE |
|||
|
|||
|
Size
at 200 years: 60-120 feet tall, 1-2 feet in diameter Life
Span: 200 years Needles:
Flat, 1-1 3/4" long, spread almost at right "brushed
up" angles. Blue-green in color. Cones:
Upright, 2 1/4-4" long, purple Bark:
Grey, smooth, with resin blisters, becoming cracked with age When weighted
to the ground with snow, the lowest branches take root, forming new
shoots. The bark is winter browse for deer, elk, and moose. Leaves are
eaten by grouse and seeds by songbirds and mammals. Native
Americans placed great importance on the pitch and bark of subalpine
fir as a very important medicine. The Secwepemc called the tree the
medicine plant. They chewed the pitch to clean their teeth. People
also chewed the pitch of all true firs for enjoyment. Some groups
made large temporary baskets from sheets of bark that they stitched
together with spruce roots. They used the baskets for cooking or
soaking hides. They also collected boughs to use for bedding and as
flooring in sweat lodges. The Carrier
people used the wood to make roofing shingles and burned the rotten
wood to make a substance for tanning hides. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
WESTERN
HEMLOCK- CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEW OF IMAGE |
|||
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Size
at 150 years: 120-180 feet tall, 3-4 feet in diameter Life
Span: 400 years Needles:
1/4 to 3/4" long. Flat, flexible, 2-ranked, and rounded at tip.
Distinctly stalked. Cones:
Egg-shaped, light brown, 3/4 to 1" long, thin scales, wavy edges,
located on the tips of small branches Bark:
Russet-brown. In mature trees about 1 1/2" thick, hard, deeply
furrowed Coastal people
carved hemlock wood, which is fairly easily worked, into spoons,
combs, roasting spits, and other implements. The Haida carved the wood
from bent trunks into giant feast dishes. Sometimes hemlock roots were
spliced onto bull kelp fishing lines to strengthen them. Hemlock bark
is rich in a substance useful for tanning hides. The Saanich people
made a red dye which not only colored wool but also added colour to
cheeks and removed facial hair. The Nisga'a
and Gitksan peoples scraped off the inner bark in spring and baked it
into cakes. A favorite way to prepare the dried cambium in winter was
to whip it with snow and eulachon grease.
|
|||
|
|
|||
 |
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
This Site Designed and
Maintained By- Created October 23, 2002 Website Hosted by |
|||||
