Pepe le Cabbage

In a few scattered spots where the creek floods in spring and creates some forest wetlands, you can find plants that like the moist soils of the flood plain. One such example is Western Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanus). The large, waxy leaves where used by indigenous people to line baskets and to wrap and cook other foods, such as salmon (sort of like Banana leaves in other parts of the world). However, the leaves contain calcium oxcalate, and so it was not typically eaten itself. (FYI - the majority of kidney stones are made of calcium oxcalate, too.)

(September 2022)