Woodlands are a realm of vast opportunities for foragers. Thirty-five percent of Alaska is covered by forests. Southeast Alaska’s 19 million acres (making up 5% of Alaska) is most densely forested; primary species of the Tongass and south coastal Alaska are Sitka spruce, western hemlock, and western and yellow cedar.
The Boreal forest extends from the Kenai Peninsula to the Brooks Range foothills and includes balsam poplar, aspen, birch, larch, and spruce. Forest soils are often acidic and hospitable to many understory plants prized by foragers, including berries and fiddlehead ferns.
Picea species
Pine family (Pinaceae)
My favorite class “opener” for kids, adults, or Elderhostel is to share the creation tale of the Dena’ina people. As I remember from listening to elder Peter Kalifornsky decades ago: The Creator of the earth made a partner for every single plant so that one could be a helper to the other. The only plant that had no partner was spruce, because spruce was to be the helpmate for humankind. Every single part of spruce has a use. I would then pass around twigs, spruce tips, bark, spruce sap, a slab of wood, and spruce root (written on slips of paper or the “real” thing), and students would brainstorm how spruce could possibly have been used. See Priscilla Russell Kari’s Tanaina Plantlore for an exhaustive list of Native applications to stimulate your own deep relations with spruce. Both black and white spruce have 4-sided needles that roll easily between the fingertips; black spruce has dense orange fuzz on its new growth stems, whereas white has hairless twigs. Sitka spruce has needles that are flattened and resist rolling. All spruce are user friendly to foragers.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Picea is the classical Latin name for spruce.
OTHER NAMES: white spruce (P. glauca), Sitka spruce (P. sitchensis), black spruce (P. mariana), Lutz spruce (hybrid).
RANGE: Southeast Alaska to the Brooks Range.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Gather spruce tips when newly emerged (the bright green spring growth at the end of spruce branches). Gather inner bark from branch cuttings in early spring when the sap is flowing.
FOOD USE: In a Cordova, Alaska, class years ago, student Meadow Bejarano whipped up a spruce tip salsa that has been a regular ever since. Steep overnight 1 to 2 cups young chopped spruce tips blended with diced tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, lemon and lime juice, diced onion, and bell pepper, and seasonings and tabasco as desired. It’s fantastic as a dip with corn chips or a topping on tacos. Spruce tip tea was a stable drink in my bush cabin life. In winter, I would pour boiling water on the dried spruce tips. Sometimes I’d add rose hips, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and honey. Spring was “cool-aid” time: I’d steep chopped fresh tips overnight in cold water for maximum vitamin C and flavor. Inner bark is a traditional survival food, eaten raw or boiled, or dried and ground into flour.
HEALTH USE: Some foragers simmer the spruce tips in boiled water, which extracts many tannins, making it quite useful as an antiseptic wash. (The latter was highly useful as a nasal wash when I suffered a sinus infection after exposure to mold.) Captain Cook rationed spruce beer to his crew, keeping spirits up and bodies free of scurvy. Spruce jelly and syrup soothe sore throats. Spruce sap and melted pitch serve as medicinal plasters to protect wounds from infection. A graphically illustrated Finnish clinical trial using refined Picea resin to treat chronic wounds concluded “it is indisputable that the establishment of the efficacy of spruce resin in the treatment of chronic wounds fulfils the criterion of a new innovation of an old folkloristic medical therapy.”
OTHER: Grind inner bark for a foot powder. Koyukon Athabascans believe white spruce has a potent and kindly spirit.
CAUTION: Excess decoctions (simmered tea) can be irritating to the kidneys. Some individuals are allergic to topically applied spruce resin.
Betula species
Birch family (Betulaceae)
Birches are dubbed “ladies of the forest” due to their elegant appearance. They range worldwide throughout the temperate regions. Alaska’s commonly recognised white or gray-barked forest birches include paper birch (B. papyrifera), Kenai birch (B. kenaica), and Alaska birch (B. neoalaskana). Less well known are the “bonzais” of the birch world, the dwarf and shrub birches: B. nana and B. glandulosa of tundra, bogs, and swamps. Flowers of all species have drooping catkins, and stems have a distinctive sandpaper texture.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Birch is associated with the Sanskrit word bhurja, a tree whose bark is used for writing.
OTHER NAMES: lady birch, lady of the forest, paper birch, Kenai birch.
RANGE: Tree birches range from Kodiak, Kenai, and the Alaska Peninsula north to the Brooks Range, and lower Seward Peninsula; Southeast Alaska is the only region where both tree and shrubby birches are noticeably rare (occasionally cultivated).
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Collect sap of tree birches as winter ends when nights are still frosty and days above freezing (usually early April). Drill a ½-inch-diameter hole (at a slight upward angle) on the sunny side of the tree. Insert a sap tap (purchased or homemade) and hang a 5-gallon bucket to collect the sap. Cover with cheesecloth to keep out insects. Tapping is usually done over 3 weeks. Plug the hole with sphagnum moss when done. Collect spring birch leaves (from any species) for food purposes when bright green and the size of a mouse’s ear. For health purposes, summer leaves and inner bark from a pruned branch (not the trunk) are used.
FOOD USE: Fresh, undiluted sap is a refreshing and nutritive tonic brew, akin to the taste of coconut water. It freezes well for winter use. It can also be flavored with berries or citrus as desired. Sap can be reduced at a 10-to-1 ratio for brewing vinegar or beer. Condensing sap to “birch syrup” is labor intensive. It takes an average of 100 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup. For a DIY preparation, slowly evaporate the sap in a well-ventilated area until a dark, sweet syrup results. For personal inspiration for using birch syrup or to buy readymade birch products, see the Alaska Wild Harvest website (alaskabirchsyrup.com). Baby birch leaves, picked from any species soon after emergence, are a vitamin C-rich green. I’ve often added them to wilderness salads, soups, and stir-fries. Cambium from various tree species is a traditional subsistence food I always associate with famines, but the practicalselfreliance.com blog demos using dry ground cambium as a replacement for ¼ of the flour in shortbread cookies for a “buckwheat-like flavor.”
HEALTH USE: Buds and leaves are antifungal; add to ointments for toe fungus or ringworm. Bark decoctions are a traditional wash for skin rashes and scratches and an ingredient in ointments for sore muscles and rheumatic pains. For birch leaf tea, 1 to 2 teaspoons of leaf is steeped in boiled water, then strained. An Iraqi clinical trial published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Biology on birch leaf tea showed that “it exerted many pharmacological effects including anticancer, immunological, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoal, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects.”
OTHER: During a sauna, switch yourself with a leafy birch branch to stimulate your skin.
CAUTION: The Iraqi trial mentioned above advises that birch leaf tea “should not be used for edema when there is reduced cardiac or kidney function.” It recommends ensuring an ample fluid intake (minimum 2 litres) while taking birch. “No health hazards or side effects are known in conjunction with the proper administration of designated therapeutic dosages of birch leaves.” It adds: “A fresh cup of tea is taken between meals 3 to 4 times a day.” Contact dermatitis with birch outer bark is known to occur. Some individuals are sensitive to birch pollen and potentially to the salicylates in birch.
Populus balsamifera,* Populus tremuloides (trembling /quaking aspen) Willow family (Salicaceae)
BUDDING STAGE (P. balsamifera)
COTTONWOOD LEAVES
In spring, cottonwood can be identified by scent alone. As its thick resinous buds open, the “smell of Alaska” perfumes the air. Follow your nose to the trees dressed in thick, gray-brown bark, deeply furrowed with age. Leaves are smooth, dark green above and paler underneath; in fall they turn a glorious gold. Trembling aspen is a tree 18 to 36 feet high with finely saw-toothed leaves borne on flattish stems; leaves “tremble” or “quake” in a breeze. Bark commonly has a yellow-green cast.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Populus balsamifera translates as “balsam-bearing poplar.”
OTHER NAMES: balsam poplar, balm of Gilead (P. balsamifera), tsiquq (Yup’ik).
RANGE: Balsam poplar ranges from the northern Panhandle to the Arctic. Trembling aspens grow from the Northern Kenai and Matanuska Region to the upper Alaska Peninsula and north through the Interior and Brooks Range. Cottonwood is a distinctive tree of gravel bars, river valleys, and alluvial plains. Trembling aspen is common in interior forests.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Harvest cottonwood’s resinous buds for salve making from fall through spring breakup before leaves emerge. Selectively harvest from multiple trees, allowing abundant buds for the tree’s life cycle. Pick catkins in spring. Harvest bark from pruned branches of both species (easiest when the spring sap is flowing).
FOOD USE: Though not my favorite food, the vitamin C-rich catkins (drooping flowers) can be nibbled when hiking. At my wilderness cabin, I roasted and ground the catkins and added to muffins to replace up to ¼ the flour in the recipe. Historically, spring cambium was also eaten, often during famines.
HEALTH USE: Cottonwood’s resinous buds are antibacterial, antifungal, and analgesic. Steep buds in your oil of choice (almond, olive, etc) in the top of a double boiler; the strained oil, thickened with beeswax, yields an exquisite “balm of Gilead” salve with high efficacy on wounds, rashes, fungal issues, piles, and sore knees. Buds steeped in grain alcohol yield a tincture used internally for wet or dry coughs and to lessen the risk of secondary respiratory infections. For external use, combine cottonwood buds with inner bark of aspen or cottonwood; steep in grain alcohol for 3 weeks, then strain and apply as a liniment for muscle aches and sprains. Teas and tinctures made from Populus cambium contain salicin; though not as fast acting as aspirin to ease headache, the poplars are far gentler on the stomach. Canadian clinical trials on cottonwood bark extracts confirm the “high potential of P. balsamifera as a complementary treatment derived from CEI [Cree Indian] traditional medicine, which can help combat the devastating effects of obesity, often leading to type 2 diabetes.”
OTHER: Steep buds in a pot of water on the back of your wood-fired stove as a winter room freshener. Collect thick cottonwood bark from a fallen tree; I love using this fantastic easy-to-carve wood for spoons and Alaskan “bear paw” salad scoops. Athabascans used bark for making sun goggles and fishing floats. Alutiiqs carved bark for toys, gaming pieces, plates, net floats, labrets, animal figurines, and maskettes. Cottonwood is a popular wood for smoking fish.
CAUTION: Like willow and birch, cottonwood contains salicin and salicortin. Check with your doctor before using internally if you are hypersensitive to aspirin.
*Some botanists are lumpers and others splitters. Some consider P. balsamifera a separate species from P. trichocarpa (western balsam poplar). Eric Hultén in Flora of Alaska considers P. trichocarpa a subspecies of P. balsamifera. For foragers, it matters not, so long as the cottonwood “has the resinous ‘balm of Gilead’ buds.”
Juniperus communis (common mountain juniper),
J. horizontalis (creeping juniper)
Cypress family, aka cedar family (Cupressaceae)
Alaska’s junipers are usually prostrate shrubs. They are evergreen, with leaves in whorls of 3. Fruits are green the first year and ripen blue to blackish in the second or third year. Leaves of common juniper vary from short and curved to straight and long-pointed; leaves of creeping juniper are scale-like. Junipers are common on dry slopes and places with sandy, rocky soils.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Its name comes from the Latin junio and parere, meaning “to produce youth,” referring to its evergreen branches.
OTHER NAMES: prickly juniper, Juniperus communis, creeping cedar (J. horizontalis).
RANGE: Common mountain juniper ranges from the Panhandle to Matanuska Valley and in an arc to the Brooks Range; creeping juniper occurs in a narrow band from Anchorage eastward to Canada.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Harvest fruits in fall when ripe.
FOOD USE: Juniper’s flavors are a cross between citrus and spruce. Use to spice winter stews, and in marinades for fish or wild game. Try making a juniper highbush cranberry jam, or juniper and wild berry syrup for your sourdough hotcakes. Add juniper berries to fermented sauerkraut. Juniper is key to fermented Sremka, a Bosnian brew that has been described as “the tastiest beverage you never heard of.” Some Sremka brewers add lemon to the juniper ferment; others use the berries solo.
HEALTH USE: Common mountain juniper is traditionally used by herbalists for healing urinary tract infections. For sinus infection, inhale the steam from a pot of simmering branches. Soak juniper in your bath to help ease joint pain. For Alaska’s diverse indigenous people, juniper tea is cold and flu medicine; berries are chewed or brewed into tea. Branches are burned as smudge to cleanse sickrooms and ward off illness. Clinical trials confirm that juniper essential oils have a potent bactericidal effect against Gram-positive and Gramnegative bacterial species as well as yeasts, yeast-like fungi, and skin fungi (dermatophytes). The Croatian Journal Acta Pharmaceutica says, “The strongest fungicidal activity was recorded against Candida spp.” A trial by Fernandez and Crock published in Pharmacognosy Journal concludes that the lack of toxicity of common juniper’s berry extracts and their strong inhibitory bioactivity against bacteria and cervical and colorectal carcinoma cells “indicates their potential in the treatment and prevention of selected autoimmune inflammatory diseases and some cancers.”
OTHER: Gin obtains its predominant flavor from juniper berries. Add juniper to homemade cleaning products for its aromatic and bactericidal properties.
CAUTION: Juniper is not recommended for pregnant women or young children. Medical herbalist Richard Whelan states that the typical warning regarding juniper use by those with kidney disease is based on high dose juniper essential oil experiments on rats. However, the berries do demand respect. “For anyone new to using juniper,” Whelan advises, “start with juniper at a very moderate level, build up the dose gradually, and not to use it for too long.”
Oplopanax horridus (formerly Echinopanax horridum) Ginseng family (Araliaceae)
FRUIT STAGE
SHOOTS STAGE
Devil’s club stirs strong emotions ranging from contempt to deep reverence. This fierce-looking plant is often despised by hikers but revered by herbalists for its ginseng-like properties. Sharp prickles are borne on woody stems, 5 to 10 feet in height, and exist on the undersides of the lobed dinner-plate-sized leaves. The clusters of small white flowers mature as scarlet-red fruits, which form a striking contrast to autumn’s golden leaves. Devil’s club’s prickles are sharp. If you whack them, you can experience festering sores from prickles embedded in your skin. Yet it’s possible to gently stroke them upwards with bare hands. I love gently wading through thick Oplopanax stands.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Oplopanax horridus translates to “fiercely armored panacea.”
OTHER NAMES: Alaskan ginseng, s’áxt’ (Tlingit), ts’iiłanjaaw (Haida).
RANGE: Devil’s club ranges from Southeast and Southcentral Alaska to Kodiak and the Kenai Peninsula and north to Matanuska Valley.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: The leaf shoots are edible for about 10 days in early spring, when they first emerge from the spiny stalks and before the leaf spines harden. Carefully separate the emerging soft-spiny leaf shoots and remove 1 or 2 from each cluster; do not collect the entire leaf cluster. Harvest stem and roots early spring or fall (for health use); replant the top 6 to 8 inches of the prickly stem to ensure repeated harvest. Scrape stems of the prickly brown outer bark and discard; peel the green cambium layer and use fresh or dried.
FOOD USE: Young leaf shoots are delicious pickled with baby fireweed shoots and fiddleheads. Devil’s club Macadamia nut pesto was a Cordova class favorite. For a potluck or special spring celebration, try devil’s club shoot tempura (together with dandelion buds and twisted stalk shoots). Nibble shoots raw or add to egg-salmon scrambles or fermented sauerkraut.
HEALTH USE: As typical of many ginseng family members, devil’s club has an adaptogenic (body-balancing) effect. At NM Herb Center in Albuquerque, run by Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, devil’s club root was used in its pharmacy as an aid for lowering high blood sugar. A client’s blood sugar levels declined from 280 mg/dL and stabilized at 120 over a 6-week period by taking 2 teaspoons devil’s club tincture in hot water (plus blueberry leaf tea 3 times daily). Devil’s club was also used to raise low blood sugar. In Wrangell, Tlingit simmer a dozen 1-foot-long unpeeled stems, gathered spring or fall, in a large pot of water (along with a handful of Labrador tea) until a deep-amber brew results. This sits overnight, then gets strained and refrigerated and drunk daily as a health tonic to enhance immunity and help prevent cancer. During a Palmer herb class, an acupuncturist recorded pulses of participants comparing effects of ingesting devil’s club root versus stem decoctions. With stem cambium teas, weak pulses consistently became stronger, and those with excess conditions moderated. Stem teas, for me, result in a calm alertness. I find devil’s club chai (made from stem cambium) a great way to start my day. Herbalists also use devil’s club teas and tinctures for colds, respiratory infections, chronic fatigue, and for extending the remission phase of rheumatoid arthritis. In vitro clinical studies showed that extracts of devil’s club inhibit tuberculosis. Devil’s club roots can be pulverized and applied as poultices for wounds, bee stings, shingles, and even infections resulting from being pricked by a devil’s club spine.
OTHER: Devil’s club has a deep spiritual tradition in indigenous villages. It features in ceremonies as well as purification rituals before hunting. In my home is a treasured necklace of hand-carved devil’s club root beads bequeathed by a Tlingit elder.
CAUTION: Diabetics taking devil’s club are advised to monitor insulin levels consistently as Oplopanax can affect dosages for oral hypoglycemics or insulin. Some individuals have allergies to devil’s club. A forager who brewed a devil’s club beer reports that all who drank it became ill.
Amelanchier alnifolia (western serviceberry),
A. florida (Pacific serviceberry)
Rose family (formerly Heath, Ericaceae)
Serviceberries grew on the hillside behind my first Alaskan coastal residence and I’ve fond memories of savoring delectable serviceberry pies. Though Amelanchier species are wide ranging in the North Temperate zone, they are only regionally available to Alaskans and well worth cultivating (see Other below). Fruits are borne on a woody shrub to small tree. Flowers are showy, with 5 white petals and 5 sepals. The lower margin of the leaf is smooth, whereas the upper has teeth. The fruits, which botanically are called pomes, are blue-black with many seeds.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Amelanchier may be derived from the Occitan Amelanchièr, for a European species.
OTHER NAMES: Juneberry, saskatoon, gaawáq (Tlingit), gaan xaw.ulaa (Haida).
RANGE: Sporadically through Southeast Alaska, Southcentral, and the Interior in moist woods to open places.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Pick fruits when plump and blue-black.
FOOD USE: Nibble berries while hiking. Top your morning muesli. Add to pancakes and pies, breads and muffins, and crêpes. Stew the fruits. Make a steamed pudding. Dry as a raisin substitute. Alaskan dog mushers and outdoor enthusiasts may wish to blend dry fruits with dried pounded meat and melted animal fat into pemmican (dubbed the ultimate survival food).
HEALTH USE: Due to more extensive serviceberry range in Canada and the Lower 48, most healing uses are recorded from outside Alaska. Serviceberry teas have been used as cold, flu, and fever remedies, wound disinfectants, etc. A dissertation by Jian Albert Zhang states that studies of serviceberry fruit and leaf teas and extracts “validate traditional knowledge of the antidiabetic effects of serviceberry.”
OTHER: The American Indian Health and Diet Project reports: “Young serviceberry stems, branches, and wood have been used in basketry, furniture making, rope making, arrow making and harpoon making, tool making, and in the construction of popgun pistols.” Fruits were an esteemed food for the hungry explorers on the Lewis And Clark Expedition. In the Alaskan railbelt area, commercial serviceberry production is being trialed. Grow your own serviceberries from seed or shrub cuttings or rooted suckers.
CAUTION: Grazing animals eating 2 pounds per day of serviceberry shrubs have died. Amelanchier species, according to a Canadian government agency, contain “a large quantity of prunasin, which has a hydrogen cyanide (HCN) potential exceeding the level required to cause poisoning in cattle. HCN occurs in the twigs before the leaves appear and during the bloom period. The level of HCN potential is highest in new-growth twigs, especially during dry years.” Wilted leaves are also toxic. Serviceberry fruits and dry leaves, on the other hand, have been safely used by diverse cultures for millennia.
Ribes species
Gooseberry family (Grossulariaceae)
The gooseberry family has many representatives throughout Alaska, all forager friendly. Growth habits vary from trailing to upright (to 6 feet high); many thrive around old stumps. Depending on species, flowers may be upright or in drooping clusters (white, pinkish, or greenish in color). Individual flowers have 5 small petals and 5 stamens; sepals are united. The nicknames skunk currant and stink currant refer to the pungency of the lobed leaves of Ribes glandulosum and R. bracteosum (aka trailing northern black currant). The prized red currant (R. triste) has smooth bark that shreds easily, and smooth, red fruits. R. lacustre goes by names varying from bristly black currant to gooseberry to dog bramble.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Ribes is from the Arabic name for a plant with sour sap.
OTHER NAMES: shaax (Tlingit, R. bracteosum), gaga giga, brown bear’s berry (Dena’ina, R. hudsonianum).
RANGE: Southeast Alaska to the northern Alaska Peninsula and northward to the Brooks Range.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: For preserves, gather fruits when plump but before fully ripe, which is when they are higher in pectin. For general food use, harvest at full maturity. Pick young leaves for tea. Harvest roots or stems fall or early spring.
FOOD USE: Currants are renowned as preserves (including currant-mint jelly for wild game). Currant muffins and cobblers are popular. Add currants to salsa, tacos, syrup, and trail bars, as well as liqueurs or mead (honey wine). Dry and powder the berries and add a teaspoon currant powder to fortify your morning smoothie or green drink. Combine fruits with fresh or fully dry leaves in beverage teas.
HEALTH USE: Currants are a superb source of vitamin C, yielding as high as 250 mg per 100 g of juice, even after 6 months of storage. Fruits contain both omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty oils. Alaskan Alutiiq and Dena’ina use currants as a body-strengthening tonic for those with general ill health. Clinical Ribes trials substantiate the potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial effects of currants on a myriad of disease states. They are said to protect and support digestive, circulatory, and nervous systems in particular. A Serbian study, published in Medical Principles and Practice, on the spasm-relieving effects of currants “shows that common gastrointestinal disorders could be treated by the functional food.” A Japanese study by Nanashima and Horie further demonstrated that Ribes extract “has phytoestrogen activity in hair follicles and contributes to the alleviation of hair loss in a menopausal model in rats.” Yakutat Tlingit as well as Eyak, Alutiiq, and Athabascan Natives have also used stem/bark decoctions for treating sore eyes.
OTHER: In the laboratory, the cultivated black currant R. nigrum is most often analyzed, but Alaskan wild fruits are typically far superior in antioxidant values and healthful constituents.
Viburnum edule
Adoxa family (Adoxaceae, formerly Honeysuckle, Caprifoliaceae)
Highbush cranberry shrub grows to 8 feet high. Its leaves are in an opposite arrangement along the stem (unlike currants, which alternate). The maple-like leaves are lobed except for the uppermost pair, which are linear. The white to pinkish flowers are in flat clusters, with individual tubular blossoms bearing 5 petals and 5 stamens. The tart fruits each contain 1 large flat stone. Taste a raw highbush cranberry, and you’re apt to grimace. But vibrant highbush cranberry jelly and other related products are an absolute delight.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Viburnum is Latin for “wayfaring tree;” edule means “edible.”
OTHER NAMES: highbush salmonberry, uqpingnyaq (Iñupiaq), qalzakuaq (Yupik), kaxwéex (Tlingit). łáay (Haida), łtsunłtsa (Dena’ina).
RANGE: Southeast Alaska to the Alaska Peninsula and north to the Arctic; rare in westernmost and northernmost Alaska.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Gather before frost for fruits with a fresh aroma and higher pectin content. Or harvest after frost, as chilling sweetens the fruits somewhat. Pick flowers in early summer. Harvest bark from pruned stems in fall to early spring.
FOOD USE: Add flowers or fruits to campfire hotcakes. The only raw highbush cranberries I truly savor are those found on winter expeditions; the frozen fruits have a refreshing natural sherbet quality that quenches thirst from cross-country skiing. Cooked fruits, run through a food mill, make tasty jellies and syrups. See the Alaska Floats My Boat blog (alaskafloatsmyboat.com) for a step-by-step guide to making delectable highbush cranberry ketchup.
HEALTH USE: In Southeast Alaska, Tlingit boiled the bark as external lotion for skin diseases. Alutiiq people mashed inner bark as a poultice for infected wounds. Other indigenous Alaskan uses range from using the stem as a steambath switch, to sipping highbush cranberry syrup to ease coughs, to drinking outer bark infusions for constipation as well as cold prevention. A Czech study of highbush cranberry noted its exceptional vitamin C content and antioxidant properties and concludes that consumption “can have a significant influence on strengthening human immunity and the prevention of many diseases.” As indicated by the common name “crampbark,” Viburnum species have long been used for relief of back, leg, stomach, and menstrual cramps, as well as cough spasms and asthma. Viburnum contains the antispasmodics scopoletin, aesculetin, and viburnin, which relax smooth muscles and peripheral blood vessels, plus the anti-inflammatory salicin. Due to the highbush cranberry’s highly bitter nature, some people prefer a low dose alcohol or glycerin base tincture (½ to 1 teaspoon, 3 to 4 times a day) to drinking a cup of decoction 3 times a day.
OTHER: British Columbia Indians stored steamed, slightly underripe fruits in water in cedar boxes. Patch ownership was highly esteemed. Fresh fruits, as well as fruits preserved in water or eulachon grease, were widely traded along the northwest Canadian coast and from the coast to the Interior.
Rubus spectabilis
Rose family (Rosaceae), Rose subfamily (Rosoideae)
FLOWER STAGE
FRUIT STAGE
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” penned Shakespeare. And for Alaskans, I’d say, “A salmonberry by any other name would taste as delicious.” Depending where in Alaska you are, the common name salmonberry can refer to the tall Rubus spectabilis (addressed here) or to the petite Rubus arcticus (see cloudberry on page 110). There are also abundant Native names for this rose family shrub. Salmonberry canes bear weak spines, can soar to 7 feet in height, and often form dense thickets. Leaves are tri-foliate and toothed. The bright pink, early blooming flowers are a hummingbird favorite. The raspberry-like fruits are thumb sized and are red or orange-gold at maturity.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Rubus means “bramble;” spectabilis translates as “exceptionally showy.”
OTHER NAMES: highbush salmonberry, nqulkegh (Dena’ina, “cloudberry big”), qiumalzaa/qategyataguaq (Yup’ik, “red berry/yellow berry”), sq’aw. aan (Haida).
RANGE: Primarily a coastal species, ranging from Southeast to Southcentral Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Salmonberry shoots are prime in spring. Pick salmonberry buds and blossoms as they appear in mid to late spring. Be sure to save plenty for summer harvest of ripe plump and juicy fruits.
FOOD USE: The Haida name s’ixaal, ts’iixaal translates as “edible shoots;” the peeled spring shoots are a delicacy. Nibble buds and blossoms or add as a garnish on spring salads. My favorite “salmonberry flower tea” evolved during a Wrangell wild plants class when students were exploring the effects of heat on a single herb. They contrasted salmonberry flowers steeped in cold water overnight versus steeping in hot water 10 minutes (herbal infusions or tea) versus simmering the flowers for 20 minutes (decoction). The cold-water floral infusion retained aroma and color and yielded a delectable sweet flavor. The hot infusion was a pleasant tea, somewhat closer to a black tea. The decoction was extremely astringent, making it far more suited as a “wound wash.” Snack on fresh salmonberry fruits. Make salmonberry jam. Salmonberry pie. Salmonberry muffins. Salmonberry smoothies. Salmonberry vinegar. Salmonberry marinade for salmon. Salmonberry yogurt. Salmonberry liqueur. Eating salmonberries with salmon eggs or seal oil is a favorite in Native villages within its range.
HEALTH USE: Salmonberry leaves are an astringent poultice for burns and infected wounds. Decoctions of leaves, bark, and root ease diarrhea. Explorers drank the brew to settle intestinal upset. If you’re camping and suffering from toothache, try applying the pounded root to relieve pain.
OTHER: Use the astringent leaves and root decoctions as a rinse for oily hair. In Tlingit culture, hunting grounds, fish streams, and berry patches are owned by particular clans. Salmonberry patches were an item of prestige, and picking rights were highly prized.
Dryopteris dilatata (shield fern), Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern), Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern) Wood fern family (Dryopteridaceae)
Fiddleheads, or croziers, are the coiled spring growth of ferns. Of particular interest to Alaskan foragers are shield, lady, and ostrich ferns. Ostrich fiddleheads are smooth at emergence, with a U-shaped groove on the inside of the stem, and bits of light papery chaff. Ostrich ferns mature with plume-shaped fronds and produce shorter central fronds that bear spores. Lady ferns also have plume-like fronds, while those of wood fern are triangular. Both wood and lady ferns have fiddleheads with brown woody chaff; spores are borne on the undersides of their green fronds.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Struthiopteris means “ostrich feather”; dryopteris translates as “oak feather”; and filix-femina means “lady fern.”
OTHER NAMES: ts’aagwaal (Haida, A. filix-femina), kw’álx (Tlingit, “ferns with edible roots”).
RANGE: From the Brooks Range southward to the Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Panhandle.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Fiddleheads are prime when tightly coiled in early spring. Harvest no more than ¼ to ⅓ of the fiddleheads from each cluster to allow the plant to thrive. Snap fiddleheads close to the base as the young “fiddlesticks” are equally as good as the coiled croziers. Harvest season ends when the fern fronds begin to unfurl.
FOOD USE: Remove (and discard) chaff from fiddleheads (see Other below). Sauté fiddleheads in herb butter or olive oil. Pickle fiddleheads. Top pizza with fiddleheads. Serve fiddlehead soup, glazed salmon with fiddleheads, or marinated fiddleheads. Blanch fiddleheads, then chill and serve with a curry or herbal mayonnaise. Even finicky children love batter-dipped fried fiddleheads. For year-round use, can fiddleheads, or blanch 2 minutes and freeze.
HEALTH USE: Fiddleheads are excellent sources of vitamins A and C; minerals include calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, and zinc.
OTHER: Everyone has their favorite way of cleaning fiddleheads. Some soak croziers in water and then drain and rub on a wire strainer set over a pot (letting chaff fall through). Others rub raw or parboiled fiddleheads in a clean dishtowel. Some soak them for half an hour in a basket or wire cage set in a fast-flowing stream. A forager’s YouTube video demos placing raw fiddleheads in a sieve and holding over a fan to blow away the chaff. In Tanaina Plantlore, Priscilla Russell Kari reports that fall- or spring-gathered roots of Dryopteris and Athyrium were placed in holes in the ground and covered with coals to bake, and then peeled and eaten. In Southeast, k’wálx xaadi is Tlingit for fern root; both fiddleheads and roots were eaten, but definitive details on species used are unavailable at this time. Documentation is also lacking as to whether Alaska’s shield fern’s “roots” have similar properties to foreign species. In traditional Chinese medicine, the underground rootstock of Dryopteris crassi is used as a bitter antiparasitic herb for tapeworms, roundworms, and pinworms. Unless thoroughly cooked and taken within prescribed dosages, it can cause side effects including central nervous system disturbances, headaches, and miscarriage. Animals eating this shield fern rhizome raw have experienced transient or permanent blindness. Note that Natives always ate fern roots cooked, and cooking often deactivates many toxins.
CAUTION: Alaska Plant Materials Center warns: “Repeated overharvesting of the fiddleheads will eventually exhaust root nutrient reserves to the point of plant death.” In Southeast Alaska, bracken fern (Pteridium) also grows; bracken fiddleheads emerge singly rather than in clusters and look more like an eagle’s clenched talon. Bracken fern is toxic to many animal species. Whether to eat bracken is a personal decision. For now, I’m keeping to my trusty 3.
Mertensia paniculata
Borage family (Boraginaceae)
Chiming bells are in the same genus as oysterleaf (Mertensia maritima on page 56), but since these plants live in such different habitats (woodland versus beach) and have such different appearances, they score separate pages in this guide. Chiming bell leaves have hairy green leaves with a light cucumber-like taste, whereas bluish-grey smooth-leaf oysterleaf is reminiscent of, you guessed it, oysters. Both have pink buds that mature as blue tubular flowers. What the Mertensias and its garden family cousins comfrey and borage all have in common is the pattern of their bell-like flowers. Dissect one and you will notice that the 5 petals are all fused together, with stamens attached.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Mertensia honors the 19th-century German botanist Franz Karl Mertens; paniculata indicates that the flowers are in a botanical arrangement called panicles.
OTHER NAMES: bluebells, lungwort.
RANGE: Southcentral Alaska west to Bethel and north to the Brooks Range.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Leaves are prime before flowering. Pick flowers when fully open, before petals fade.
FOOD USE: The reason chiming bells leaves are not more widely used is because of their hairy texture. I sometimes chop them finely and add them to salads, but they are best suited for cooked dishes. Add to campfire soups and stir-fries. Flowers are delightful in a multitude of ways: salad garnish, in gelatin salads, frozen into ice cubes or children’s popsicles. Add fresh or dry flowers and leaves to beverage teas.
HEALTH USE: Lungwort is a common name for many Mertensia species, which were historically used in the treatment of whooping cough and other respiratory complaints.
OTHER: Like fireweed, chiming bells regenerate quickly following fire, softening the charred landscape with carpets of color. A Canadian clinical trial by Grainger and Turkington explored how plants respond to “burning of fossil fuels, inputs from industrial fertilizers and faster mineralization rates” resulting from global warming, which increases available nitrogen levels. In their study, plants like chiming bells and fireweed increased substantially, whereas yarrow population remained constant, and other species declined. “Experimental evidence from a variety of ecosystems including grasslands, temperate forests and arctic tundra has shown that nutrient enrichment leads to species loss when some species are out-competed to local extinction in the altered environment.” Unless we address the root causes of rising global temperatures, we will continue to see dramatic shifts in plant communities around the world. Nitrogen-loving plants like chiming bells will prosper while others will perish.
CAUTION: Many plants in the borage family, including Mertensia, contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids and other constituents that can be hepatotoxic in large quantities. Use moderation.
Streptopus amplexifolius
Lily family (Liliaceae), Sego lily subfamily (Calochortoideae)
Botanical names are often intimidating to new foragers, but essential to use if you seek additional information on a plant. Common names, even within a region, can vary dramatically. Some plant names honor the botanist who first described the plant. I particularly like the binomial Streptopus amplexifolius as it so definitively describes: “the twisted stalk with the clasping leaf.” Notice that twisted stalk’s greenish-white flowers also hang on distinctive kinked stalks. An even closer look reveals 6 tepals (3 pistils and 3 sepals of identical size and color) that curve back. Stamens number 6. The stem is kinked with alternating leaves that wrap around the stem at its base. Though the fruit registers the lowest of all Alaska’s berries in antioxidant value (19 on ORAC scale compared to 206 for lingonberry), the plant is a good source of vitamins A and C. The fruits have a refreshing flavor with a hint of watermelon. Like prunes, they can help sluggish bowels to move, so be aware of how much you eat at one time (one common name is “scootberry”).
DERIVATION OF NAME: Streptopus amplexifolius means “the twisted stalk with the clasping leaf.”
OTHER NAMES: wild cucumber, watermelon berry, scootberry, liverberry.
RANGE: Southeast Alaska to the Aleutian Islands and northward to the Yukon River.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Be mindful how much you harvest of the tender spring stalks (stem and leaves). I playfully threaten to flog students with stinging nettles if they don’t leave enough for the plants to carry on their life cycle. Harvest the watery fruits in summer when plump and fully red.
FOOD USE: The young cucumber-flavored shoots are a delicious trail snack or addition to tossed salads. Fried as tempura, the flavor becomes quite similar to asparagus. The ripe watermelon-tasting berries can be nibbled fresh as a snack, juiced, processed into jelly or syrup, or added to muffins or breakfast cereal. In Plant Lore of an Alaskan Island: Foraging in the Kodiak Archipelago, Fran Kelso has a delightful recipe for shredded twisted stalk leaves and stems mixed with sweet onion, sugar (or mild honey), salt, pepper, and vinegar.
HEALTH USE: Tea of stems and fruits has traditionally been used as a general “tonic” due to its flavonoids and other nutrients. Be aware that excess of berries has the potential to trigger an enthusiastic release from the bowels. Moderation is the key.
CAUTION: I’ve often found twisted stalk growing side by side with deadly false hellebore (see page 179). Though the plants are dramatically different when in flower, some foragers have been confused during early spring phase. In addition, in the Turnagain Arm–Anchorage vicinity and in the southern Panhandle, the somewhat similar-looking but bitter-tasting and purgative false Solomon’s seal (Maianthemum, formerly Smilacina spp.) occurs. Beloved botanist, the late Verna Pratt taught me that Solomon’s seal lacks the black hairs on the lower stem that are characteristic of the choice edible twisted stalk.
FRUIT STAGE
Viola species
Violet family (Violaceae)
PURPLE VIOLET
YELLOW VIOLET
Violets have been described as one of the most “underappreciated, important tonic herbs.” Though violet flowers are recognized worldwide, their other sterling qualities are far less commonly known. The 5 irregular petals vary in hue from violet to snow-white and bright yellow. The wild violas are perennial. The heart-shaped leaves may rise from the base or alternate on the stems. Seeds are in 3-valved capsules.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Viola is said to be the Latin name for the Greek nymph Io. After Io was transformed into a cow, Zeus caused her tears to become violets.
OTHER NAMES: wild violet, Alaska violet, marsh violet, yellow violet.
RANGE: Throughout Alaska, except the extreme north Arctic.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Selectively harvest leaves and flowers throughout the green season. Though most tender before bloom, leaves remain palatable throughout the summer.
FOOD USE: Add leaves and flowers to salads. Try violet flower vinegar. Violet wine. Violet syrup. Violet jelly. Violet leaf and flower tea. Candied violets are a stunning birthday cake decoration.
HEALTH USE: Diverse violet species have been used worldwide for easing ailments ranging from respiratory problems to skin cancers. Clinical trials of a violet syrup, published in Science Direct, concluded that its efficacy and safety “in treatment of pain, fever, cough, infection and inflammation may make it a suitable treatment for respiratory ailments.” In an Iranian clinical trial, nasal drops of violet oil (2 drops in each nostril before bed) were demonstrated to ease chronic insomnia. Internally, violet leaves are a superior source of vitamin C (264 mg) and vitamin A (20,000 IU) per 100 g of fresh leaf. External applications of antiseptic mashed leaves soothe cuts, boils, and scrapes. Burned dry roots of marsh violet (V. epipsela) are used by Dena’ina Athabascans to purify rooms with fragrant perfume to ward off disease. Violet leaf is used by herbalists as a poultice for fibrous breasts and mastitis and as a low dose tincture (3 drops 3 times a day).
OTHER: Add violets to lotions to moisturize the skin. Cultivate violets for a backyard supply. The Alaska violet (Viola langsdorffii) is suited for growing in moist well-drained soils ranging from sandy to heavy clay. It prefers acid to neutral and can grow in semi-shade in light woodlands to open areas.
CAUTION: Violets, especially those that have more mucilaginous-tasting leaves (as in some yellow-flowered varieties) can have the effect of eating stewed prunes. Be mindful of how much you eat.