Wild Nootka Rose

hips: sek’wéw’

bush: sk’eplé7llp

Mary Thomas described how arrow shafts were made from the largest and straightest branches of the rose bush. The fruit, or hips, were eaten and used for tea. The branches were used to line the pit in pit-cooking. Spiritually, and most importantly, the branches were used to cleanse and purify a home or personal items associated with someone who was sick, or someone who had died.

Grows at low to mid elevations: on floodplains, lakeshores, in fields and disturbed locations