Salal In Flower

Day 220: Salal (Gaultheria shallon) is common in the lowland forests of the Pacific Northwest from British Columbia through northern California where it frequently creates impenetrable thickets to the exclusion of other plants. However, it is a native species, and its black berries provided a dietary staple for the indigenous peoples of the coast. The fruit is also much favoured by wildlife such as chipmunks, squirrels, deer and elk, as well as by fruit-eating birds such as robins and grouse. The berries are tasty if you can get past the flannel-like surface texture which also is apparent on the flowers as fine red hairs. The leaves, stems, flowers and fruit are all tacky-sticky, resembling (as I once remarked) resinous velcro. I suspect that the fuzziness was mitigated by the indigenous practice of pounding the fruit together with fat to make pemmican, but I do not speak from experience. My mother cautioned me (incorrectly) that the fruit was poisonous. That's good enough for me.