Appearance
''G. shallon'' is 0.2 to 5 m tall, sprawling to erect. Evergreen, its thick, tough, egg-shaped leaves are shiny and dark green on the upper surface, and rough and lighter green on the lower. Each finely and sharply serrate leaf is 5 to 10 cm long. The inflorescence consists of a bracteate raceme, one-sided, with five to 15 flowers at the ends of branches. Each flower is composed of a deeply five-parted, glandular-haired calyx and an urn-shaped pink to white, glandular to hairy, five-lobed corolla, 7 to 10 mm long. The reddish to blue, rough-surfaced, hairy, nearly spherical fruit is 6 to 10 mm in diameter....hieroglyph snipped...
Naming
Both salal and shallon are presumed to be of Native American origin: the former from Chinook Jargon ''sallal'', and the latter from a native word whose pronunciation was recorded by Lewis and Clark as ''shelwel, shellwell''. The genus ''Gaultheria'' was named by Pehr Kalm for his guide in Canada, fellow botanist Jean-François Gaultier.
Habitat
''G. shallon'' is tolerant of both sunny and shady conditions at low to moderate elevations. It is a common coniferous forest understory species and may dominate large areas with its spreading rhizomes. In coastal areas, it may form dense, nearly impenetrable thickets. It grows as far north as Baranof Island, Alaska. Western poison oak is a common associate in the California Coast Ranges.References:
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