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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: |
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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. |
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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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