The seeds were a staple for the Klamath Indians of Oregon, who gathered the pods as they matur4ed and named the roasted seeds wokas. They kept for several years when dried. Lewis and Clark whote that "each of these cells [in the seed pod] contains an oval nut of light brown colour much resembling a small white oak acorn smothe extreemly heard, and containing a white cernal of an agreeable flavor; these native frequently eat either in this state or roasted….[I]t is esteemed as nutricious as the pumpkin or squash and is not very dissimilar in taste." Stored for winter use, wokas were sometimes kept in wigwams in caches of twenty to thirty bushels.
Klamath Marsh in Oregon contained about 10,000 acres of solid growth of pods that were harvested from dugout canoes. The profusion was so thicki that the Indians could not use poles to convey their canoes. When fully mature and filled with a sap-like substance, the pods opened at the base and the seeds were larger, whiter and more palatable. The most-rpized seeds were known as spokwas. Using a kind of wicker spoon, the women scooped and put them in a special basket. At the end of the day, the spokwas were placed in a pit in them to a dugout canoe, added water and stirred the whole concotion so that the seeds dropped to the bottom and floating refuse was skimmed. The seeds were then spread out on a mat to dry prior to storing.