ponderosa pine
Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson
Traditional Food Use
Pitch chewed as a gum
Seeds used for food.
Young male cones chewed for the juice
Medicinal Documentation
Pitch used to hold the hair in place. Additional commentary: Northern Cheyenne elders indicated that pine gum was used as a salve or ointment for sores and scabby skin. The gum was also used, more technologically than medically, in instruments that were used medically such as whistles used in the Sun Dance and flutes used as love medicine.542
Gum used as a salve or ointment for sores and scabby skin
Ceremonial & Cultural Notes
Artifacts/Material use: Used in the manufacture of bone and wooden whistles and flutes, in which it was placed in the hollow ends
Botanical Reference
Parts Documented: gum, pitch, seeds, wood, young_male_cones
Distribution: Dry sites; foothills to montane; southern British Columbia, Canada to New Mexico