This week I went on a walk at Tod inlet or SṈIDȻEȽ in SENĆOŦEN. This inlet has a lot of history for the local W̱SÁNEĆ people. SṈIDȻEȽ means home of the Blue Grouse. SṈIDȻEȽ was a traditional village site for the W̱SÁNEĆ people until the Hudson’s Bay colonized it in 1859. A cement company was built there and polluted the shores, leaving this once fertile land barren. Through restoration work SṈIDȻEȽ has come slowly back to life. However, the work is not yet done. The abundance of jellyfish in these waters is a tell-tale sign that everything is not fully restored. There are hundreds of mesmerizing Moon jellyfish at SṈIDȻEȽ. Moon jellyfish thrive in low oxygen environments, and they are eating all the plankton in the inlet, meaning that the small fish don’t have as much to eat.
The particular indigenous plant that I will be discussing this week is the Snowberry. The snowberry has multiple traditional uses. To treat swimmers itch, scrape snowberry back and put it in a bath to treat swimmers itch. Use the berries in a hot bath to help treat impetigo. Another way to use it medicinally is to apply a salve of berries and bark to help treat nerve damage. You must apply this salve daily to treat paralysis from strokes. Snowberries can also be used for severe burns. Lastly, a non-medicinal way to use the stripped stems of the snowberry bush is to tie them together to use as a broom!
The snowberry is a branching shrub that is easily identified by its white berries that can be found for most of the year. Its bark is reddish brown. When it flowers, its flowers are bell shaped in dense clusters. The white berries are pea sized and have a waxy texture. Do not eat the berries, they are poisonous.
