MediaWiki default at 16:13, 26 October 2007

2007-10-26T16:13:58Z

New page

{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Salal
| status =

secure
| image = Gaultheria_shallon_11240.JPG
| image_width = 240px
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[dicotyledon|Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Ericales]]
| familia = [[Ericaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Gaultheria]]''
| species = '''''G. shallon'''''
| binomial = ''Gaultheria shallon''
| binomial_authority = [[Frederick Traugott Pursh|Pursh]]
}}

'''Salal''' (''Gaultheria shallon'', [[Ericaceae]]) is a leathery-leaved shrub native to western [[North America]]. Its dark blue "berries" (truly [[sepal]]s<ref name=Pojar>{{cite book |coauthors=Paul Alaback, Joe Antos, Trevor Goward, Ken Lertzman, [[Andy MacKinnon]], [[Jim Pojar]], Rosamund Pojar, Andrew Reed, Nancy Turner, Dale Vitt |editor=Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon |title=Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast |edition=Revised |year=2004 |publisher=[[Lone Pine Publishing]]|location=[[Vancouver]] |language=[[English language]] |isbn=978-1-55105-530-5 |pages=53 |quote= }}</ref>) are edible, with a unique flavor. Salal berries were a significant food resource for the native people, who both ate them fresh and dried 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.<ref name="Pojar"/>

More recently, salal berries are used locally in jams, preserves and pies.<ref name="Pojar"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Charlotte Bringle |title=Edible and Useful Plants of California |year=1978 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0520032675 }}</ref> They are often combined with [[Oregon-grape]] because the tartness of the latter makes up for the mild sweetness of salal.

Salal is very tolerant of both open sun and shady conditions. In coastal areas it can form deep, nearly impenetrable thickets. It grows as far north as [[Baranof Island]], [[Alaska]].<ref name="Pojar"/>

In the Pacific Northwest, the harvesting of Salal is the heart of a large export of evergreens in which it is sold to florists worldwide for use in floral arrangements.

Salal was introduced to Britain in 1928 by [[David Douglas]], who intended for the plant to be used as an [[Ornamental plant|ornamental]].<ref name="Pojar"/> There it is usually known as ''Gaultheria'' and is believed to have been planted as cover for [[pheasant]]s on shooting estates. {{Fact|date=October 2007}} It readily colonises [[heathland]] and acidic woodland habitats in southern England, often forming very tall and dense evergreen stands which smother other vegetation. Although heathland managers widely regard it as a problem weed on unmanaged heathland, it is readily browsed by cattle (especially in winter), and so where traditional grazing management has been restored the dense stands become broken up and the plant becomes a more scattered component of the heathland vegetation.

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

{{commons|Gaultheria shallon|Salal}}

[[Category:Ericaceae]]
[[Category:Flora of Northwestern United States]]
[[Category:Flora of Oregon]]

{{Ericales-stub}}

Salal - Revision history

MediaWiki default at 16:13, 26 October 2007