Lodgepole Pine Cambium (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. var. latifolia Engelm. ex S. Wats.): A Springtime First Peoples’ Food in British Columbia

Abstract

Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) is a tree species utilized for succulent edible cambium and secondary phloem in the spring by Interior First Peoples of the Pacific Northwest. In this article we present a nutritional analysis of this food based on a pooled sample of 17 trees harvested in the Chilcotin region of British Columbia. We also present enzymatic sugar analysis of raw, dried, and cooked lodgepole pine cambium harvested from the Chilcotin and Okanagan regions in British Columbia. In the discussion we interpret the nutrient values of raw lodgepole pine cambium in comparison to dried and cooked cambium, results from other nutritional studies of pine cambium, and nutrients in some other traditional and nontraditional foods.

Keywords:

• cambium
• traditional foods
• nutritional value
• Pinus contorta

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This article is based on a component of Megan Dilbone's MSc thesis through the School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria. This project was supported by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant # 410-2010-0877 to N.T.) and from NSERC Discovery Funds received by Patrick von Aderkas. The authors gratefully acknowledge the following people for their contributions to this study: John Charleyboy, Lenore Case, Edna, Josephine Gregg, Skip Gregg, all of Tsilhqot'in Nation, Chilcotin region, British Columbia; Dr. Michael Carlson, Kalamalka Research Station, BC Ministry of Forests, Land and Natural Resource Operations; Brent Gowan and Elaine Humphrey, Department of Biology, University of Victoria; Dr. Lynn Yip and Dr. Peter Constabel, Centre for Forest Biology, University of Victoria. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful insights and suggestions.

Notes

¹50° 14′ 18.38″ N 119° 16′ 30.97″ W elevation 1601 ft.

²51° 48′ 16.82″ N 124° 41′ 55.95″ W elevation 3262 ft.

³Lodgepole pine cambium, along with most edible and medicinal tree cambiums, is only available during a short window of time in the late spring and early summer months. The exact timing of harvest varies with climate, elevation, and the fluctuation of local environmental variables such as temperature and rainfall (Turner 1997; Kuhnlein and Turner 1991; Turner et al. 1990). Late May and the first few weeks in June is said to be the optimal time. Some say the whole month of June is the best; others only say it is available from one to three weeks (Marshall 2002; Turner 1997; Kuhnlein and Turner 1991; Eldridge 1982). In our study we found the lodgepole pine cambium in the Okanagan region of British Columbia prime to harvest in the last week of May. Comparably lodgepole pine cambium harvested in the Chilcotin region of British Columbia was ready during the first two weeks of June. Outside these periods during the summer of 2010 the cambium was not prime to harvest (Dilbone 2011).

FIGURE 4 Two locations on crown land in British Columbia from which raw lodgepole pine cambium was sampled for our study: (1) Kalamalka Seed Orchard in the Okanagan, demarcated by the star; and (2) in the West Chilcotin, demarcated by the triangle.

⁴Harvesters peeled small test strips (20 cm in length) as samples from a prospective tree before peeling it further. The strips of cambium were tested for consistency and thickness, and for the right taste which was sweet but not too sour (from tannins and resins; White 1954; Kuhnlein and Turner 1991). If a tree was deemed suitable for harvest, then a larger strip of outer bark was removed. A flap of outer bark was created by cutting an arch or “V” at chest or eye level (Deur 2007; Eldridge 1982; Turner 1997). Historically, an antler or chiseled piece of wood was often used to pry open the outer bark. The flap was then pulled downward. If the tree is at the right stage for harvesting, the outer bark peels off easily in long strips and tapers to an end at the bottom. The whitish tissues, or “bark noodles,” are scraped off in strips about 3 cm wide and 60 cm long (1 in wide and 23 in long) using a sharp knife or traditional scraper (Kuhnlein and Turner 1991; Turner 1997).

⁵This region of British Columbia is suffering from the largest mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreak in the history of North America (McGarrity and Hoberg 2005). Mature lodgepole pine trees (80 years or older) are the primary host for mountain pine beetle (Westfall and Ebata 2009). Consequently, trees which were healthy enough to produce edible cambium in the spring were a rare commodity in the Chilcotin region. The 17 trees in the Chilcotin region were selected based on their health and ability to actually provide material to the sample. Many trees tested were not healthy enough to produce edible cambium. The infestation of mountain pine beetle limited our ability to gain all the material we needed for analysis from one area, limited our capacity to provide uniform selection material for harvestable trees, and limited our capacity to harvest uniform volumes of cambium from each tree selected. Thus we decided to also harvest from an alternate location, Kalamalka Seed Orchard, which provided us with trees with Chilcotin region genotype. This ensured that we had enough cambium to perform the analysis.

⁶Instrument brand Agilent 1100 HPLC with a Waters Micromass Quattro Micro tandem mass spectrometer.