Native Talk Tuesday #9

The plant featured in today's Native Talk Tuesday is Rosa nutkana, commonly known as the Nootka Rose. For those that do not know the distinction between this rose and other wild roses, it is also refered to as the Wild Rose. Usually growing to 10 feet high, with soft, straight thorns at the base of each leaflet, this rose can sometimes be seen along the roadsides of the Willamette Valley. The leaflets, which alternate along the branches, contain 5 or 7 serrated leaves. The flowers are differentiated from the Baldhip Rose as they are larger, at 1.5 to 3 inches across. Unlike the Clustered Wild Rose, the Nootka Rose has only one flower at the end of each stem.

The Nootka Rose has pink, 5-petal flowers that are up to 3 inches across.

The Nootka Rose is often found in a variety of open habitats such as along the streambanks, clearings, meadows, thickets, and along roadsides of the Pacific Northwest from Southern Oregon to Glacier Bay, Alaska; occurring from low to middle elevations. This rose was named after one of several, if not many, native tribes who placed the leaves under and over their food to flavor it and keep it from burning while being cooked. Chewed leaves were applied to bee stings, and although I wouldn't recommend it, a tea made from strips of bark from this plant was used as an eyewash for cataracts or to enhance eyesight.

The Nootka Rose growing along a country road east of Salem.