(Gaultheria shallon)
The Salal Berries grow on a bush that can be upright or ground crawling and grow up to 5 meters in height. Salal growth can be sparse or form a dense barrier, almost impossible to penetrate. Salal spreads by suckering layer upon layer and is the most dominant shrub in the BC coastal forest area. The berries are black, reddish-blue, or dark purple and are up to 10 mm around and somewhat hairy to the touch.
Salal grows from sea level to mid-elevations. Salal is found in coniferous coastal forests all over the coast as well as the outer islands. The strong, flexible branches and stems of the salal plant are well-designed to withstand the wet, heavy snow; they tend to bend instead of breaking.
Salal berries have long been a major food source for BC’s native peoples, and settlers learned to make jams and jellies from them. I like to just pick and eat them while on a hike. There is a fairly big business in gathering salal branches to be used in floral arrangements, and quite a few people make a living doing just that.
I noticed that Salal is dying all around Pye Lake. Any idea why? Insects or too dry?
This going on all over the coast, as far as I can figure out is that we have had such a dry spring. This could be trouble if wildfires break out in these areas, that’s a lot of very dry fuel. It worries me.