Gaultheria shallon is an evergreen shrub in the heather family (Ericaceae), native to western North America. Common names include salal (), shallon, or (mainly in Britain) gaultheria.
Description
thumb|upright=1.1|The finely and sharply serrate leaves are shiny and dark green above.
Gaultheria shallon is tall, sprawling to erect. It is loosely to densely branched and often forms dense, nearly impenetrable thickets. The twigs are reddish-brown, with shredding bark. Twigs can live up to 16 years or more, but bear leaves only the first few years. The fruits are 'pseudoberries', or capsules made up of a fleshy outer calyx, and each fruit contains an average of 126 brown, reticulate seeds approximately 0.1 mm in length. These berries are also edible.
Etymology
Lewis and Clark reported the local Chinook Jargon name of the omnipresent evergreen shrub to be shallon, shelwel, or shellwell, but when Scottish naturalist David Douglas arrived at Fort George in April 1825 he noted that it was not called shallon but rather salal or sallal.
The genus Gaultheria was named by Pehr Kalm for his guide in Canada, fellow botanist Jean François Gaultier.
In the Squamish language, the fruits are called t’áḵa7 and the bush is called t’áḵa7áy̓. In the Saanich dialect, salal berries are called DAḴE In the Lushootseed language, the month of August is named pədt̕aqaʔ, literally 'time of the salal.'
Distribution
Salal is found in Southeast Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon and along much of the California coast. It grows as far north as Baranof Island, Alaska.
In Europe
The species was introduced to Britain in 1828 by David Douglas, who intended the plant to be used as an ornamental.
Ecology
Preferred sites
G. shallon grows in moist to dry, montane to lowland coastal conifer forests as well as forested peatland and swamps throughout the Pacific Northwest down to Southern California. It is a common coniferous forest understory species where shade is not heavy and may dominate large areas with its spreading rhizomes. Individual plants may live for hundreds of years, spreading from their rhizomes. The plant is sensitive to frost. The leaves have relatively low nutritional value, and deer which feed exclusively on them have shown signs of malnutrition, cementing their status as a winter and emergency food for ungulates. Beavers and the white-footed vole are known to feed on salal leaves, as are domestic goats and sheep in some areas. both with a unique flavor. them into cakes. They were also used as a sweetener, and the Haida used them to thicken salmon eggs. The leaves of the plant were also sometimes used to flavor fish soup. They are often combined with Oregon-grape because salal's mild sweetness partially masks the former's tartness.
Salal is widely cultivated as an ornamental both within and outside of its native range, useful for ground cover and landscaping.