Vegetation of the Ktunaxa
Vegetation was an important part of First Nations of the Plateau's diet. One of their vegetation meals was Camas. Camas is a wild lily bulb that is a pretty important but seriously dangerous. That is because the blue-flowered Camas root was important, but the white-flowered Camas root was poisonous to eat! This is why they only harvested Camas when the flower is in bloom. Digging tools for digging out vegetation was made of deer antlers and/or mountain sheep horns. These tools made digging out wild onions, skunk cabbage, and water parsnip roots an easier job. The berries that the First Nations of the Plateau ate consisted of Saskatoon berries, salmon berries, raspberries, and blueberries.
Barks of the evergreen and poplar trees could be gathered in spring time as that was the time the sap rose in the trees. The bark of these trees were then scraped off in long slivers and dried. The bark was an orange and was very sweet tasting, just like candy!
Barks of the evergreen and poplar trees could be gathered in spring time as that was the time the sap rose in the trees. The bark of these trees were then scraped off in long slivers and dried. The bark was an orange and was very sweet tasting, just like candy!