The Ozette Prairies of Olympic National Park - Natural Resources ...

Vine maple (t’apsiyoqwpat, “splittable plant,” or lalakwtsil)- A truly important wood in Quileute traditional
life, vine maple poles and stakes were used for a variety of purposes in construction, for racks and
frames and implement making. Vine maple withes were split for basket making; the baxwowi basket was
made of vine maple.
Broadleaf maple (la’axal)- Used for carving larger bowls and pots, which were hollowed out. The large
leaves of this maple were used to line the inside of po’pqw and wi’i’is (small and large alder bark baskets
used for storing berries underwater for use during the winter. The thick moss on the north sides of these
trees was rubbed on a boy-child’s chin to cause a thick beard in adulthood.
Red alder (kakaliya)- The alder was common around the prairies, and usually the first to invade an open
area, it was the special objective of the burning process to wipe out encroaching alders. The wood was
used for carving commonly used (and replaced) utensils, e.g. cups, platters, dippers. The bark was dried
and used for red dye used for basketry materials and, even, women’s hair.
Dogwood (bixa’a ha’ba, “blossom tree”)- used in making utilitarian utensils, e.g. hooks and arrows, since
the wood becomes hard after it dries. A myth tells why the Quileute did not eat the berries of dogwood
but may eat the similar looking bunchberry, which were called bixa’aha’bat’sa “little dogwood.”
Cascara (akilipat, “bear plant”)- The bark had medicinal uses, primarily in the treatment of visceral disor-
ders.
T’lo’ob, grasses found in prairie areas
Beargrass (iba)- the most sought after of the basket grasses, not actually recorded as growing within
memory in the Quileute prairies, but its habitats suggest it could’ve been on or around the prairies. It is
called bear grass because bears eat the new growth in the spring; the Quileute term, iba, has no etymological
meaning. Traded by the Quileute as far north as Vancouver Island. It was picked in July or later
and hung in bundles to dry, then split and used for the sidewalls of fine basketry or for basketry designs
when dyed.
Basket sedge or slough sedge (loq’way)- the most common grass in Quileute country, called “swamp
grass” by the Quileute women. It did not grow in the dry prairies, but was common along the streams
through the prairies, in the natural and maintained seasonal marshes or bogs (loq’wt’lil) and year-round
swamps (t’lixa’). Picked, hung in bundles, dried, split and woven in small and large imbricated basketry.
Cattail (sit’say)- There were areas within and along the prairies that provided the cattail reeds that were
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