Salal
Halq’emeylem Name
Fruit: t’aqa
Shrub: t’aqá:lhp
Latin Name
Gaultheria shallon Pursh
About Salal
“Salal is a creeping to erect shrub that varies in height from 0.2-5 m (ca. 8 in to ca. 16.5 ft) tall. It has thick, leathery leaves that stay green all year long. The flowers are white or pinkish, urn-shaped, and produce reddish-blue to dark purple “berries.” Actually, these “berries” consist mostly of fleshy sepals, the small leaflike structures found at the bases of the flowers. which surround the true fruit. Salal occurs in coniferous forests and on rocky bluffs to the seashore, from low to middle elevations throughout coastal British Columbia.” (SFU)
Connections
Shakespeare
The plant is in the garden because it is Indigenous to the BC Coast.
Though not a Shakespeare poem, we love the poem “Late Love” by Jan Zwicky that features salal, available here. We thank Beverly Jones for the connection!
Indigenous Knowledge
Eat and harvest in August when ripe, or dried, or as a sweetener (Siyámíya).
“Traditionally dried as cakes,” they “also make great jam or jelly” (stolofoodways.com).
Gallery
References
Images: John Rusk | CAJC: in the PNW | Jinx McCombs
(Íhtelstexw Te Shxwelí (Feeding the Soul): Stó:lō Foodways. Stó:lō Elders and Knowledge Keepers. Curated by Teresa Carlson. University of the Fraser Valley, 2022. https://www.stolofoodway
Integrated Taxonomic Information System. (n.d.). Gaultheria shallon Pursh. Retrieved from
https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=23658#null
Simon Fraser University. (n.d.). Salal. Retrieved from
https://www.sfu.ca/halk-ethnobiology/html/plants/salal.htm
Siyámíya (Dianna N. Kay). “Medicinal Plants of the Fraser Valley In Your Back Yard.”
University of Victoria. (March 1, 2018). New research yields berry interesting results. Retrieved from
https://www.uvic.ca/news/topics/2018+salal-berries-constabel+news
Zwicky, Jan. “Late Love.” MĀNOA: A Pacific Journal of International Writing. Volume 25, Issue 1, 2013, pp. 62-65.