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On this page you will find a listing of the plants studied from the forest. The links to the plant pages will open in a new window. The letter in square brackets is the accessible keyboard shortcut.
- Alpine Fir [A] Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.
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Alpine Fir, or Sweet Pine, is a very important plant to our people. You will know a Sweet Pine when you see its pale, bluish-green needles, triangle shape, and gray or white bark. A special tree, it gives so much to both people and animals. Deer, elk, moose, and big horn sheep like to eat the bark, and grouse will eat the needles. It is tall when fully grown, up to 10 - 16 metres, with branches that reach all the way to the ground....
- Creeping Juniper [C] Juniperus horizontalis Moench
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Creeping Juniper is an evergreen shrub that grows on rocky hillsides and in clearings. It has sharp green needles that grow together in groups of three. If you look at the needles up close, they are very scaly. Creeping Juniper has berries that start out green but ripen to a dusty blue. The berries can take up to 3 years to ripen! Berries are picked in the fall of the second year or in the spring of the third year, when they are sweeter....
- Fireweed [F] Chamerion angustifolium ssp. angustifolium
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The Fireweed plant has a long stem and is usually between 90-180 cm tall. It has pinkish purple flowers that bloom in July and August, with long, skinny leaves that run along the stem. They are seen often where land has been disturbed or burned. When that happens, their role is to protect the soil from blowing away or being carried away by rain, and to give food and shelter until the bushes and trees can grow back....
- Kinnikinnick [K] Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng
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Kinnikinnick is a trailing, low-growing evergreen shrub that grows to form mats 50-100 cm wide, but it does not have needles the way some other evergreens do. Instead, it has oval, dark green leaves that have lighter undersides. These leaves feel leathery to the touch. Kinnikinnick grows on well drained areas like the sandy slopes of the coulees or on the edges of mixed forests....
- Lesser Spikemoss [L] Selaginella densa Rydb.
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Lesser Spikemoss is a dark green moss that grows in mats on the prarie in wet, gravelly areas. If you look closely at the plant, you can see tiny brownish-green flowers growing up out of the moss bed. The flowers look like little spikes.
Lesser spikemoss was used to make a tea for pain. If a woman was in labour, it would help her have the baby more quickly and it would speed the afterbirth....
- Lodgepole pine [L] Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud.
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The Lodgepole Pine is a tree that gives us medicine and its straight and narrow trunk helps us build many things. The Lodgepole Pine grows on the lower slopes of hills, like the Cypress and Porcupine Hills. It also grows in the mountains. It is an evergreen and can reach a height of 25 metres. The needles are in bunches of two and the cones are 2-5 cm long....
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