Index / Search / Gaultheria shallon
§1 Plant
Gaultheria shallon Pursh
vernacular salal — species · Ericaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Ericaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Gaultheria
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Native
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 56 counties across 4 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- High
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- Low
- CaCO₃
- None
- Hedging
- High
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- 7 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 200 min.
- Precipitation
- 55–125 in/yr
- pH range
- 5.5–7
- Root depth
- 12 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 6 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 1 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- White
- Fruit colour
- Purple
- Fire resistant
- Yes
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Rapid
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 5,000,000
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Contracting Only
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- Yes
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 56 counties across 4 states/territories.
Alaska view state ↗ 2 N ▾
California view state ↗ 12 N ▾
Oregon view state ↗ 20 N ▾
Washington view state ↗ 22 N ▾
- Asotin 53003
- Chelan 53007
- Clallam 53009
- Clark 53011
- Cowlitz 53015
- Grays Harbor 53027
- Island 53029
- Jefferson 53031
- King 53033
- Kitsap 53035
- Kittitas 53037
- Lewis 53041
- Mason 53045
- Pacific 53049
- Pierce 53053
- San Juan 53055
- Skagit 53057
- Skamania 53059
- Snohomish 53061
- Thurston 53067
- Wahkiakum 53069
- Whatcom 53073
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/GASH ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2882758 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z