Gaultheria shallon |
Gaultheria |
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salal, shallal |
gaultheria, salal, snowberry, wintergreen |
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Habit | Shrubs, creeping, not mat-forming, rhizomatous. | Shrubs or subshrubs, (sometimes rhizomatous or stoloniferous and rooting at nodes). | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect to partially erect, (greenish), 50–200+ cm, ± glandular-hairy, glabrescent. |
erect or procumbent; twigs glabrous or hairy. |
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Leaves | blades oval to ovate or orbiculate to reniform, 4–8+ cm, base rounded or cordate, margins serrulate (teeth fimbriate apically), apex mucronate/apiculate or aristate, surfaces glabrous. |
persistent, aromatic; blade ovate, elliptic, or orbiculate to subcordate or reniform, coriaceous, margins serrate, crenate, or ciliate, plane or revolute, surfaces glabrous or hairy; venation reticulodromous or brochidodromous. |
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Inflorescences | axillary, drooping, secund racemes; peduncle deep pink to red, 7–15+ cm, densely glandular-hairy; bracts white to light pink, deltate, 4–6 mm, not exceeding sepals, glandular-hairy marginally. |
axillary, racemes, 2–12-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary; (bracteoles closely subtending flowers). |
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Pedicels | white, 7–10 mm, densely glandular-hairy; bracteoles 1–5, pinkish white, parallel-veined, oblanceolate, 3–5 mm, densely glandular-hairy. |
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Flowers | sepals 5, distinct nearly to base, dark pink to red, narrowly deltate, 3.5–5 mm, glandular-hairy (hairs reddish); petals 5, connate nearly their entire lengths, white to light pink, 7–8 mm, densely glandular-hairy, corolla narrowly urceolate, lobes 1 mm; filaments widest proximally, glabrous, papillose; anthers with 2 apical, bifurcating awns, dehiscent by subterminal pores proximal to awns. |
sepals (4–)5, connate basally to nearly their entire lengths, (sometimes exceeding petals), ovate, deltate, or cordate; petals (4–)5, connate ca. 1/2 to nearly their entire lengths, white or cream to pink, corolla urceolate to campanulate, lobes much shorter than tube; stamens 8 or 10, included, (inserted at base of ovary); filaments straight, flattened, usually widest proximally, glabrous or hairy, sometimes papillose, without spurs; anthers with 2–4 awns or without awns, dehiscent by pores with ventral slits, (white disintegration tissue present dorsally along connective); pistil 4–5-carpellate; ovary 5-locular; stigma truncate or capitate. |
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Fruits | black-purple, 6–8 mm wide. |
capsular, 5-valved, globose, fleshy, (surrounded by persistent, fleshy calyx). |
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Seeds | 20–80+, ovoid; testa smooth. |
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x | = 11, 12, 13. |
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2n | = 22, 44. |
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Gaultheria shallon |
Gaultheria |
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Phenology | Flowering May-early Jul; fruiting late Jul–Sep. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Woods and transition zones, moist soils, rocky or sandy cliffs, coastal bluffs | |||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-1300 m (0-4300 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AK; CA; OR; WA; BC [Introduced in nw Europe]
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North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies (Hispaniola, Windward Islands); e Asia; Pacific Islands (New Zealand); Australia (including Tasmania); mostly temperate or montane in tropical latitudes |
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Discussion | Fruits of Gaultheria shallon are a food source for animals, and the evergreen leaves provide additional food throughout the winter. This species has been used as a vegetative cover in disturbed areas because it spreads aggressively. The fresh and dried or smoked fruits were an important food of native peoples throughout its range. The evergreen leaves are used commercially in floral arrangements. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Species ca. 115 (6 in the flora). Gaultheria is characterized by its fruit and by the stamens having flattened filaments and awned anthers. All of the species are woody to varying degrees; the growth form varies from erect or spreading shrubs to procumbent or creeping and mat-forming. Eastern Asia and the Andes mountains of South America are centers of diversity for this genus. In North America, the fruits and leaves of Gaultheria are a food source for wildlife, and native peoples have medicinal and food uses for some species. Oil of wintergreen (methyl salicylate) is found in the leaves and fruits of some species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 514. | FNA vol. 8, p. 512. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Gaultheria | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Name authority | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 283, plate 12. (1813) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 395. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 187. 1754 , | ||||||||||||||||||||
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