Species
+

Gaultheria shallon Pursh

Salal, Shallon, Shallon (EN), salal

Climate known 53 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Gaultheria shallon is an evergreen shrub in the heather family (Ericaceae), native to western North America. Common names include salal, shallon, or gaultheria.

Text from Wikipedia, “Gaultheria shallon”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Gaultheria

Gaultheria is a genus of about 283 species of shrubs in the family Ericaceae. The name commemorates Jean François Gaultier of Quebec, an honour bestowed by the Scandinavian Pehr Kalm in 1748 and taken up by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum. These plants are native to Asia, Australasia and North and South America. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Gaultheria”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Ericaceae
Described by
Pursh
Native to
Alaska, British Columbia, Oregon +2
Wild records
1736 in range· 542 open

At a glance

Warmest month
22°C
Aug, mean day; nights 13 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1769mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Dec 280 mm (CHELSA)
Light
6–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to March in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1769 mm a year, wettest December at 280 mm, driest July at 29 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -5.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Brossaea shallon (Pursh) Kuntze; Shallonium serrulatum Raf.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to March in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1349 mm of 1769 mm) falls in October to March, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 6.7 °C against a yearly mean of 10.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1769 mm a year, wettest December at 280 mm, driest July at 29 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1769 mm a year at the habitat, 1349 mm of it October to March. Wettest month December at 280 mm, driest July at 29 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1060 mm to 3432 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 4, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -5.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -5.6 °C, the absolute minimum -16.2 °C, about 27 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 2.2 °C in December (across the envelope cells -1.6 °C to 6.0 °C), warmest day 21.7 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -5.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 7 °C in Dec to 22 °C in Aug; mean night from 2 °C in Dec to 13 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Nov to Jan, is the three months around the coldest night. 1769 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 884 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -16.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 28.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°frost28.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)-16.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 6–41RH 59–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 884 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C7 / 4–108 / 5–1110 / 7–1312 / 9–1516 / 12–1818 / 14–2121 / 16–2522 / 17–2619 / 16–2314 / 12–179 / 6–127 / 3–10
Night °C3 / -1–63 / -1–64 / 1–76 / 2–88 / 5–1011 / 8–1213 / 11–1513 / 11–1512 / 9–138 / 6–115 / 1–82 / -2–6
Rain mm257 / 151–462191 / 102–333181 / 103–333128 / 66–25595 / 51–17269 / 37–14029 / 13–8534 / 18–10565 / 35–169161 / 89–400279 / 168–521280 / 161–481
DLI7 / 5–1113 / 11–1720 / 18–2429 / 27–3436 / 34–4038 / 36–4541 / 38–4836 / 33–4327 / 24–3415 / 13–218 / 6–126 / 4–9
RH %65 / 62–6963 / 61–6663 / 61–6562 / 60–6461 / 59–6561 / 58–6659 / 56–6960 / 56–6961 / 57–6764 / 61–6766 / 63–6965 / 62–69

Each figure is the median across the 884 grid cells holding the 1684 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 825:1150 (48.725, -122.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -16.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -5.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 884 distinct grid cells holding the 1684 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 825:1150 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 48.50_-122.500, lapse-corrected -43 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 88 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAlaska, British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, California· introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, France, New Zealand South
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker48.46, -123.306 · in the densest population, 962 records (55% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1736 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 542 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 34 km away. 110 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 52 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1736 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Gaultheria shallonGaultheria shallonGaultheria shallonGaultheria shallonGaultheria shallonGaultheria shallonGaultheria shallonGaultheria shallon

Photographs: (c) Gavin Slater, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Laurel Meredyk, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Gaultheria shallon, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Culturing and direct DNA extraction find different fungi from the same ericoid mycorrhizal roots
T. R. Allen, Tony Millar, Shannon M. Berch, Mary L. Berbee (2003) · New Phytologist
Ethnoveterinary medicines used for ruminants in British Columbia, Canada
Cheryl Lans, Nancy J. Turner, Tonya Khan, Gerhard W. Brauer (2007) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Endophytic fungi in evergreen shrubs in western Oregon: A preliminary study
Orlando Petrini, Jeffrey K. Stone, Fanny E. Carroll (1982) · Canadian Journal of Botany
Participatory action research and environmental learning: implications for resilient forests and communities
Heidi L. Ballard, Jill M. Belsky (2010) · Environmental Education Research
Antioxidant capacities of ten edible North American plants
Ulyana Muñoz Acuña, Daniel Atha, Jun Ma, Michael Nee (2002) · Phytotherapy Research
Influence of millipedes on litter decomposition, N mineralization, and microbial communities in a coastal forest in British Columbia, Canada
Héctor A. Cárcamo, Tomonori Abe, Cindy E. Prescott, F. B. Holl (2000) · Canadian Journal of Forest Research
Molecular diversity of ericoid mycorrhizal fungi
Marcia Amelia Monreal, Shannon M. Berch, Mary L. Berbee (2000) · Canadian Journal of Botany
Occurrence of mycorrhizae on ericaceous and pyrolaceous plants in northern California
David L. Largent, Neil G. Sugihara, Carl Wishner (1980) · Canadian Journal of Botany
Comparison of humus horizons from two ecosystem phases on northern Vancouver Island using 13C CPMAS NMR spectroscopy and CuO oxidation
Louise E. DeMontigny, Caroline M. Preston, Patrick G. Hatcher, Ingrid Kögel‐Knabner (1993) · Canadian Journal of Soil Science

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 48 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.