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

Skunk cabbage (t’okwa or xitsxits)- One of the most used plants in Quileute territory, the skunk cabbage
even had a lunar month named after it: xitsxitsaliqtiya’at, “skunk cabbage getting days.” Leaves were
used to line steam-cooking pits for cooking elderberries and to line the berry storage baskets. The roots
(white part below ground) could be cooked, which takes away the acrid taste, and eaten (but were not
highly prized, and considered late winter fare when the larder was empty). In late pregnancy the roots
were pounded and boiled and the juice, if drunk, would cause an easy delivery. Leaves were applied to
cuts and swellings. A fur seal hunter puts the leaves under the bowpiece of his canoe and when they lie
straight the seals will lie flat, too.
Spaghnum moss (t’owa’as)- Spaghnum moss was collected by the canoeload and brought home for use
as baby diapers in the cradleboards (often mixed with wild ginger leaves). It was pushed into the cracks
between houseplanks as insulation and used to wipe fish. It was used in bending bows, wrapped around
the bow and dampened and buried in hot ashes until pliable.
Trillium (k’wok’wotstadaqchiyil, “thieves’ leaves,” called that because the leaves move slowly in a
“sneaky” manner)- Used medicinally, the bulb is scraped and the scrapings are applied to boils to bring
them to a head.
Twisted stalk (ya’wapat, “snake plant,” because traditional Quileute thought that snakes ate the berries;
and, since snakes are a spiritually liminal creature, if they eat something it is inappropriate for pots’oqw
(“Indians, people”) to eat it. Leaves were thought to smell good and were mixed with wild ginger and
put into the moss used for mattresses.
Wood sorrel (ka’alats or ki’axlatspat)- Hunters chew the leaves, though bitter, while lying in wait for
game to keep themselves keenly focused. Wilted (steamed) leaves are put on boils to draw them.
Yarrow (sisibalwa, same name as pearly everlasting)- Leaves were eaten by women in labor to ease pains.
A newborn was bathed three times a day and rubbed afterwards with cedar bark and yarrow…and then
greased with shark oil. Babies were rubbed with yarrow before they were named. Boil the leaves in an
infant’s bedspace to make the area smell good. Damp leaves were laid on rheumatic limbs. Yarrow teas
were brewed and drunk as a general tonic.
Yellow avens (hat’alichiyil, see also baneberry, above; there seems to be some Quileute relationship
between the two)- Leaves were chewed during labor, because they are supposed to grow where the seals
give birth. Sea mammal hunters carry the leaves in the pouch. Chewed to spit on a boil in order to bring
it to a head, but do not swallow the juice.
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