Meet Northwest Balsamroot

Nearly all parts of the plant are used by Native Americans:

• Roots and young shoots can be baked or steamed to eat.
• The young flower stems can be peeled and eaten raw.
• Animals such as elk, deer, bighorn sheep, and cattle eat the bitter flowers that smell like pine sap.
• Balsamroot seeds are a nutritious, oil-rich food source. They can be eaten raw or ground into flour.
• The root can be used as a substitute for coffee and medicinally for diseases, swelling, and insect bites.
• The sap can be applied topically as an antiseptic for minor wounds.

Get up close to a balsamroot leaf and take a sniff. Many say the leaves smell like chocolate!

Northwest Balsamroot 

(Balsamorhiza deltoidea)

(Asteraceae) Sunflower Family 

Composite, ≤ 2 feet tall

By Ashley Erdely – White Salmon Wildflower Festival Advisory Board Member and author of Meet the Wildflowers.