salal

American  

[suh-lal, sa-] / səˈlæl, sæ- /

noun

1. an evergreen shrub, Gaultheria shallon, of the heath family, native to the western coast of North America, having leathery, oblong leaves and clusters of pink or white flowers and purplish-black fruit.

---

Etymology

Origin of salal

1815–25, < Chinook Jargon sallal < Lower Chinook sálal

Example Sentences

I love salal because, like huckleberry, it looks great every day of the year.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 9, 2023

Dix organized work parties to clear paths and applied for a $2,200 King Conservation District grant to landscape and replant it with native plants — bunchberry, Oregon grape, flowering currant, salal.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 5, 2023

Its long silky fringe swung through the salal and ferns as the Port Gamble S’Klallam elder explained the meaning of this simple cemetery in the woods.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 2, 2022

The technicians offered the nymphs a buffet of fragrant guava, bramble and salal leaves.

From New York Times • Dec. 1, 2020

Its dark-purple berries have a very agreeable flavor, and form an important article of diet among the Oregon Indians, who call them "salal."

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth