2022/07/08

The Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation is currently working on a botanical guide to help identify certain important boreal plants in Wolastoqey culture and traditions. This book will provide a better understanding of the uses of the various plants and fungi found on Wolastokuk, the ancestral territory of the First Nation.

In order to make its botanical guide more dynamic, the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation is looking for short testimonials related to the different species that will be represented there. Thus, members of the Wolastoqey community are invited to send texts of a maximum of 65 words by e-mail to the agent for the research and development of cultural projects whose coordinates are at the bottom of the page.

To be eligible, testimonials must include the species name and be signed.

Examples of testimonials

Sweetgrass

I associate sweetgrass with a feeling of comfort. I remember when I was a child my mother purified our house with the smoke of this plant. She had been offered it to Mashteuiatsh in the form of a braid by a "medicine man" who felt she needed it, and since then its scent has dotted my family's daily life, protecting the household from negative energies.

Chanterelles

I love to hunt mushrooms. Looking for these biological treasures allows me to do physical activity in nature and to learn more and more about the wonders that surround me. All you have to do is remember the location of the tillers that you discover and identify the species with certainty to ensure an annual tasting with the aromas of the forest.

List of species presented in the guide

• black ash
• white ash
• red ash
• yellow birch
• paper birch
• sugar maple
• red maple
• red oak
• western arborvitae
• tamarack
• Black/White Spruce
• black plum
• Cherry trees
• Saskatoon
• American Beech
• balsam poplar
• Virginia hornbill
• basswood
• white pine
• Balsam fir
• wild currant
• Hart-red dogwood
• wild raspberry
• wild blackberries
• staghorn sumac
• Currants
• blueberries
• highbush cranberry
• Hazel
• Spineless, rough rose, wild rose
• Savoyan
• Asaret of Canada
• Virginia polypody
• Wintergreen
• wild garlic
• downy bramble
• chaga
• lobster mushroom
• Morel
• Tinder
• giant puffball
• Cowberry
• common juniper
• Scottish lovage
• Sweetgrass
• crowberry
• white immortelle
• strawberries tree
• Little burdock, great burdock
• striped maple
• major plantain
• yarrow
• the alders
• rowan
• Elderberry
• apios
• speckled alder
• wild cranberries
• American flag
• Distaff
• violin head
• Canadian mint
• Labrador tea