Native Talk Tuesday #2

The plant featured in today's Native Talk Tuesday is the state flower of Oregon, called Mahonia aquifolium, commonly known as the Tall Oregon Grape. The picture below was taken somewhere near the South Falls in Silver Falls State Park, but it can be found all over the lower elevations of the Cascade and Coast Ranges.

As you can see in the picture above, the leaves look similar to holly and during spring it has bright yellow flowers. This plant, which has 5-9 pinnate leaflets, is often confused with the Dull Oregon Grape, which has 9-19 leaflets. The leaflets for this plant are usually paired across from each other, with exception to the leaflet on the end which is  by itself. Although it is called a grape, it is not a true grape, and thus is often called an "Oregon holly-grape." The fruits are small, blue-colored berries with a few large seeds and cluster together like true grapes. Although edible, these berries can be quite tart and usually are not eaten in large quantities.

The grapes were often mixed with some sweeter fruit such as salal. The Oregon Grape can be used for jelly and wine, but they still need to be sweetened up. The stems were often shredded by various tribes to make a yellow dye for basket materials. The berries, if eaten in quantity, reportedly can be used as an antidote to shellfish poisoning.