pun’hwe’num’ – is the term we use in Stz’uminus for the month of May. This is named for speenhw “blue camas” [Camassia leichtlinii (Baker) S. Wats. and/or C. quamash (Pursh) Green. Some Elders say tum’peenhw – tum’ – time of camas, or tum’pe’un’hw – time of getting camus. This was an important starch food for our people. It was gathered from island bluffs and high fields and baked, steamed or roasted. It has a sweet taste similar to marshmallows. There were strict rules about who could harvest where and when. And our ladies tended the camas plots to make sure that they thrived. The dried camas would be put away in the winter box and used in soups during the winter time, along with wild onions, and wapato.
Roxanne Seymour from shtsum’inus on camas
Featured Plant
saaqw’ | Cow Parsnip
Cow-parsnip is a large, herbaceous plant that produces large clusters of white flowers followed by small, flat seed-like fruits. It grows along streambanks, moist slopes, and clearings as well as a variety of other habitats from sea level to subalpine elevations. It is common throughout the entire coastal area of the province.
The hollow stems and solid leaf stalks of this plant are edible, once peeled to remove the skin. The term saaqw’ seems to refer to the entire plant of cow-parsnip. Cow-parsnip stems and leaf stalks are edible when peeled. They must be peeled before they are eaten to remove the outer skin, which can cause skin irritation upon contact with bare, moist skin in the presence of sunlight. The term yaala applies to the edible portion of cow-parsnips, possibly both the stems and the leaf stalks.