First People’s connection with the land is like the relationship between breathing and air; one can’t happen without the other. They are essential to each other. The land is life; the people and the land are inseparable. Land is mother, teacher, provider (Meyer, 2008, Brooks, 2008, Wilson, 2005, Elliott, 2017). Everything people need and use is in their surroundings. First Peoples, in particular, have kept the knowledge close about what Earth provides, and all the ways to use her gifts. The land is alive. From that knowledge passed down to present generations come the teachings of how to live in harmony with nature. This perspective contrasts with Western thought which diminishes the living land and people concept in favor of the land as someTHING to manage, change, exploit for economic gain, and even fix, when human over-activity results in pollution or other negative results such as removing natural flora, introducing invasive non-Indigenous species, over harvesting, and soil depletion, erosion and lost habitat.
The Earth’s plants and trees are an enormous resource, providing food, medicines, clothing, and shelter. However, I, myself, was raised outside of a First Nations community. So I am “sas” – poor, without the teachings of our ancestors, and so my relationship with plants and trees developed over time from a Eurocentric perspective, due to my adoptive parents’ ancestry and their practices. The gardeners in my adoptive family designed their plots for color and show. There were no indigenous plants detectable. I do not recall them ever being mentioned. I grew up seeing most plants and trees as just sources of beauty, but not materials for medicine, fabric, furniture and construction. Weeds and certain bugs were the enemies and were dealt with by various unpleasant means. And although I found weeding laborious, I enjoyed being in the garden and my heart was always happy when I dug in the soil. However, there were some weeds that I found daunting indeed, and never did completely succeed in getting rid of them. It has taken the better part of 50 years for me to come to know that we, the living beings of Mother Earth, depend on each other for survival. Everything in nature, even a weed, is a part of our family. These are the teachings of our ancestors. So, I continue on with an open mind and heart, and learn a little more about my plant “relatives” whenever I spend time in their presence. In recent years, this has helped me learn to respect anew some of the plants that were my least favourite and those that I could not associate with having any value.
In this paper I demonstrate two ways to describe specific plants and their uses. One way is the scientific description and facts about It. This information is Eurocentrically-based and uses Latin terms for the various species of plants and animals, and is a universally recognized plant identification system. A second way is to look at plants from an Indigenous perspective which connects people synonymously with the land. I focus on the use of a few specific plants that are of importance to First Peoples in Cowichan Territory on Vancouver Island and neighboring areas and also happen to be some of my least favourite, and (up until recently) least appreciated plants in my life experience.
Again, likely because of my upbringing and zero connection to my Indigenous roots, one of the teachings that I continue to grapple with is the one about everything in nature is important and having a purpose. Really? What about poison ivy, mosquitoes, stinging nettle, Athlete’s foot? I have failed miserably to find value in the role these “relatives” have found in my life. So to accelerate my learning experience, I deliberately chose plants to discuss in this paper that have challenged my biased point of view, or plants that seem unattractive for whatever reason, and that I may even have considered down right annoying.
My information sources were taken from both First Nations (hwulmuhw mustimuhw) in the form of interviews, and non-First Nations books and publications. The accessibility of information pertaining to authentic cultural knowledge is always in question. The dilemma lies in whether or not what is asked for is appropriate and permitted to be shared with “outsiders”, and that decision lies expressly with the knowledge keepers themselves. Since First Peoples were visited and later colonized and exploited by those who transplanted themselves from other homelands, much information about their ways has been compiled by botanists, anthropologists and other researchers. Some generalized information came through consultation with First Nations knowledge keepers, sometimes in good faith (or not), but the deeper knowledge and ways of the ancestors has rarely been shared with non-First Nations people. However, what has indeed been shared has often been put into a paper or book form with no restriction on its access to anyone in particular. In the past, it often happened that those who contributed information were not credited or references properly if at all. It only stands to reason that the very old ways of Time Immemorial that were kept safe in the hearts of the ancestors and that have survived time continued to be passed down to those entrusted few with the responsibility to share them with future generations of hwulmuhw mustimuhw.
When searching out publications of a botanical or scientific nature, I was inspired by Nancy J. Turner’s Plant Technology of First Peoples in British Columbia published in 1998 by the Royal BC Museum. Turner, herself, has spent a significant part of her researching life in the company Elders and keepers of Indigenous knowledge around plants. This particular publication was the third of three handbooks that the RBCM commissioned. I was particularly interested in the information in this third publication because its format differed somewhat in comparison to Turner’s first two handbooks. Specifically, when referencing a particular plant, the information included all first peoples who used the plant, where it was used, and for what purpose, because often plant distribution was widespread and overlapped territories. Consequently, as a reader, I could envision a “mental map” to locate and connect the plant and its users within the province of British Columbia and compare how it was used from one area to another in the same reference.
Overall, there are at least 16 plant references pertaining specifically to the Cowichan people and plant use in this handbook. They occur on the following pages: pp. 76, 77, 107, 126, 128, 135, 148, 166, 171, 172, 181, 182, 189, 203, 218, 219. However, in this particular paper it was necessary to narrow my focus and specifically look at just a few plants used in Cowichan Territory and Southern Vancouver Island. However, because of the aforementioned plant distribution, I found it necessary in some cases to include First Peoples’ practices in other adjoining areas such as Haida Gwaii, Washington State, and Alaska.
ts’aqw’a’
Skunk Cabbage, Western Skunk Cabbage, Yellow Skunk Cabbage, Swamp Lantern, or Yellow Arum
Latin (Scientific) name: Lysichiton americanum
Higher classification: Lysichiton
This plant was never one of my favourites, mostly because of its smell. When walking in the woods in spring, I would always encounter the scent that typically reminded me of unfortunate encounters with its namesake while driving on numerous country roads or after an encounter with a very curious but unfortunate dog. But having said this, here is a little of what I have learned since those past experiences, and how this plant has now dramatically elevated itself, in my estimation, due to its redeeming qualities and its “hidden life”.
Ts’aqw’a’ is an herbaceous perennial with thick, fleshy rootstocks and large clustered, oval, bright green, waxy leaves that measure from 40 to 100 cm long. It flowers in early spring and the bloom is a bright yellow sheath up to 20 cm long and surrounds a yellowy green club-like flower stalk. The seeds can be seen embedded in a white pulpy tissue when the plant is mature and the stalk breaks open. This plant grows best in swamps, bogs and other moist sites such as muddy ground under conifers. However, if it is too shady, it will not flower. When it does flower, it produces a strong, unpleasant odor much like the scent produced by an alarmed skunk.
The leaves of a skunk cabbage are not edible, but they are very useful when preparing and serving food, kind of like our “waxed paper. Because they are water-repellent, they were useful for lining steam pits, berry baskets, oil baskets, and storage pits. Although the leaves do not smell good, they do not seem to leach their odor or flavor into the foods they come in contact with. The leaves were also used for lying on drying racks under the food so the food wouldn’t fall through. When the drying process was done, the food was easily peeled off the leaves due to their waxy surface (Coastal and Interior Salish). The edges of the large leaves could be pinned together to make a make-shift berry container. Other uses were for sun-shades (the larger leaves), coiling them up for a make-shift drinking cup, and for toy spears (Nuxalk, Dididaht).
xum’xum’
Common Horsetail
Latin (Scientific) name: Equisetum arvense L
Family: Equisetopsida
Higher classification: Puzzlegrass
My gardening experience over the 14 years at my home beside Kwa’mutsun Xats’a’ was a mixed bag of beauty, hard work, joy, and frustration. When the infant fronds of horsetail began to poke through the soil in my expansive rockery, I had no idea of its strength and persistence and how futile and ineffective my labors were to become in my determination to control the weeds.
My digging, pulling and cursing revealed that the roots of common horsetail go as deep as three feet making it very difficult to control or eliminate in a tended garden. My only positive connection with this plant was that during these labor-intensive sessions, I was always joined by my ’imuth who was a toddler at the time, and we spent countless hours beside each other rooting around, me for horsetail, and he just rooting around for the joy of it. I was totally unaware of the traditional uses of the plant during the time I lived there from 2000 to 2014. I perceived the plant as having zero value, except for perhaps the saying that, “If it (pertaining to all my useless effort) doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger.”
So fast-forward 18 years, and now I must admit that there is evidence that there is life after horsetail, and maybe even a chance for “reconciliation”. (I say this in jest, as it is more likely the horsetail that is likely trying to reconcile my colonial, herbicidal actions against it, instead of the other way around.)
From Turner’s records, I have learned that horsetails are primitive plants that are closely related to ferns although they do not look particularly alike. Their ancestors of hundreds of thousands of years ago actually grew a hundred feet high.
There are actually three types of this plant used by First Peoples of British Columbia. The two that grow in coastal areas from Washington, through BC to Alaska are the common horsetail (Equisetum arvense L) and the scouring plant (E. hyemale). They are widespread and found in meadows, in moist soil, and often occur in populated areas as a garden weed. This plant produces bushy-looking, branched segmented stems. They are generally light green and produce separate brownish, un-branched stems that bear the reproductive spores.
Downriver Halkomelem and Island Halkomelem peoples used as a polishing agent for nails, bone, wood, and so they are commonly referred to as “Indian sandpaper”. The black rhizomes that grow on the underside of the branch were used for patterns and interwoven in basketry designs by the Tahltan people, and likely others. Horsetail was also used to make whistles.
The third type, Giant Horsetail (E. telmateia), grows further away from the coast in Upriver Halkomelem territory, and is a much taller version of horsetail. The people of that area used the young shoots and cones as food. See additional names for these plants listed on this website.
qwa’pulhp
Devil’s Club
Latin (Scientific) name: Oplopanax horridus (Araliaceae)
Higher classification: Oplopanax
Devil’s Club is a low, sprawling shrub that reaches heights from 3 to 10 feet. It grows best in shady, evergreen forests and along streambeds where there is rich moist soil. Its habitat reaches along coastal BC up to Alaska but also continues along into BC’s interior wet belts. The leaves can get very large and resemble Maple leaves, but they have sharp spines on their veins and stems. The spines are especially long and dangerous on the branches and cause very painful wounds. Its flowers are small and white, and present in clusters, and the fruits are small, red, spiny berries.
On southern Vancouver Island and neighboring regions, the sticks were carved into fish lures resembling small fish where they could be attached near the hook and spin toward the surface to attract fish to the moving object. Cod lures were constructed in the form of wing-like propellers. Other traditional uses included ceremonial face paint when mixed with bear grease or in recent years, vaseline (Ditidaht, Squamish, Straight Salish); tattoo “ink” for under the skin; and a dye made by adding water (Dena’ina of Alaska).
My personal introduction to Devil’s Club was during my time on Penelakut from 2001 to 2005 when I taught the Penelateen Program. Our students were from ages 11 to 19. There were opportunities for cultural activities both on the island and off, and harvesting Devil’s Club was one of them.
We set out one cloudy day and three vehicles and a dozen students and staff members took the ferry over to Chemainus and drove to Copper Canyon. We parked the vehicles at the point where the road became too muddy to proceed, and then walked in a couple of kilometers from there. Away from the roadside, we made our way in with difficulty through the swampy terrain. Needless to say, I learned a lot that day about the right kind of equipment, tools and clothing needed to be successful in a harvest of such a challenging plant. Due to the time of year, the plants were not in bloom, but both older and younger shoots of the plant and the splaying nature of its growth presentation was quite amazing to me as an introduction to one of culturally important plant relatives. Our time that day seemed short, but those knowledgeable in our group were happy enough with what we harvested. Note: Thick leather garden gloves are no match for qwa’pulhp!
References
1) Comp. of Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, Vol 21 (2016): Emotional and Environmental Education. https://cjee.lakeheadu.ca/issue/view/79/showToc.
2) Comp. Inter Press Service,1993. Story Earth: Native Voices on the Environment. Mercury House, San Francisco, USA. Chapter 1 (Bruchac J) & Chapter 2 (Ashini T D). pp 3 – 18.
3) Comp. Quw’utsun Syuw’entst (Cowichan Teachings) 1990. Cowichan Tribes.
4) Comp. ’Ksan, The People of, 1980. Gathering What the Great Nature Provided: Food Traditions of the Gitksan. Douglas & McIntyre Press, Seattle, Washington.
5) Comp. Pojar J & Mackinnon A, 1994. Plants of Coastal British Columbia including Washington, Oregon, & Alaska. Lone Pine, British Columbia Forest Service.
6) Jensen, S. Empathy and Imagination in Education for Sustainability, 2017. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education (CJEE), 2017 – cjee.lakeheadu.ca
7) Stewart, Hilary, 1977. Indian Fishing: Early Methods on the Northwest Coast.
J.J. Douglas, Ltd., North Vancouver, BC.
8) Turner N J, 1998. Plant Technology of First Peoples in British Columbia, UBC
Press in collaboration with the Royal BC Museum.
9) Turner N J, 1995. Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples. UBC Press.
10) Kimmerer R. 2014. Braiding Sweetgrass : Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Publisher: Milkweed Editions.
11) McCoy, K. & Tuck E. (Eds.) (2018). Rethinking Pedagogies of Place from Indigenous, Postcolonial, and Decolonizing Perspectives. Taylor & Francis.
