#shallon

Salal Berries Gaultheria shallon

Shallon Berries  2022

Gaultheria shallon, Ericaceae

There is a list of plants I am expected to recognise and identify for the horticulture course I’m attending, but the only one I had never seen before is this evergreen shrub generally known as shallon or salal. Native to North America, it was introduced to the British Isles in the early 1800′s, along with the snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), mostly to provide cover for game, control erosion on riverbanks and as an ornamental species, and has quickly naturalised in many woodland areas, where it forms dense strands expanding via rhizomes. As a member of the Ericaceae, it prefers acidic soils and its characteristic flowers -not pictured- are quite similar to those of other species within the family, like the strawberry bush (Arbutus unedo) or the bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus). A trait it shares with the latter is the production of dark coloured, edible berries mildly similar in flavour (I really liked them), which I read were a staple food for some North American Native people, along with the leaves, also used for their medicinal properties.