Day 273: This is not the first time I've made the assertion that I'd rather be mildly embarrassed by correction than to continue in ignorance. I am grateful to Mark Turner for stepping up to the plate (or maybe that should be "bearding the lion") with the true identity of this plant. I was fooled by a taste-test, and felt that it could not possibly belong with the Wintergreens since the berry was sweet and juicy with no hint of wintergreen flavour. I was wrong.
Gaultheria ovatifolia is indeed a Wintergreen, although I think I'll refer to it commonly as "Western Teaberry" rather than "Oregon Wintergreen" based on its fruity flavour. The berries are eminently edible, and good enough that I might be tempted to collect them by the handful for nibbling while hiking, an adjunct to the tiny alpine strawberries which come into delectable ripeness at the same time. Taken together, I might have been able to pick enough to fill a coffee mug over the distance of a mile, neither fruit exactly thick on the ground, but worth this gatherer's efforts for a treat.
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