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About Cedar (Bark and Root)

Northwest Coast Basketry:

Cedar Bark & Root (Western Red Cedar - Thuja plicata) : Used often in Pacific Northwest Coast basketry as plaiting material.

The Makah used a warp of inner cedar bark in their basketry.

The Coast Salish, Puyallup, Quinault, used cedar roots for coiling in their basketry. The Quinault used cedar bark for both warp and weft.

The Clatsop peoples used cedar bark for fish baskets.

The Clallam people used flat splits of cedar bark in their twill plaited baskets.

 Examples: Haida, Nootka, Tlingit, Salish (Coast Salish & other Salish tribes), Quinault, Tillamook.

Cascades - Plateau Basketry:


The Cascades regional tribes used cedar root (Thuja plicata or Thuja gigantea) for their stiff, bundle-coiled baskets.

Examples: 
Chilcotin Basketry (Athabascan linguistic stock)
Klickitat Basketry (Sahaptin or Penutian linguistic stock)
Lillooet Basketry (Salishan linguistic stock)
Okanagon Basketry (Salishan linguistic stock)
Shuswap Basketry (Salishan linguistic stock)
Thompson River Salish Basketry (Salishan linguistic stock)
Yakima Basketry (Sahaptin or Penutian linguistic stock)