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This is a picture taken by Edward S. Curtis when he visited the Quw’utsun’ mustimuhw in 1913. Ruby Peter — Sti’tum’at explains the picture in Hul’q’umi’num’.
This is the only native blackberry species in British Columbia. It is a low, trailing plant with deciduous leaves and white to pink flowers that produce the small blackberry fruits. It is common in disturbed sites and dry, open forests from low to middle elevations throughout the southern two-thirds of Vancouver Island and the southern coast of the province. sqw’il’muhw is also used to refer to the introduced Himalayan Blackberry (Rubus armeniacus)
The fruits are edible and the leaves, after they have turned reddish, may be used to make a tea. This plant grows abundantly where fires have occurred.
