Page:All Over Oregon and Washington.djvu/289

Rh every interstice is filled up with shrubs: some tough and woody; others, of the vining and thorny description. Of shrubs, the sallal (Gaultheria Shallon) is most abundant. It varies greatly in height, growing seven or eight feet tall near the coast, and only two or three in the forest. The stem is reddish, the leaves glossy, green, and oval, and the flower pink. Its fruit is a berry of which the Indians are very fond, tasting much like summer apple. This shrub is an evergreen.

Three varieties of huckleberries belong to the same range—one an evergreen, having fruit and flowers at the same time. This is the Vaccinium Ovatum, with leaves like a myrtle, and a black, rather sweet berry. The second has a very slender stalk, small, deciduous leaves, and small acid berries, of a bright scarlet color. This is V. Ovalifolium. The third—V. Parvifolium—resembles more the huckleberry of the Eastern States, and bears a rather acid blueberry. In favored localities these are as fine as those varieties which grow in Massachusetts or Michigan. In addition to these is a kind of false huckleberry, bearing no fruit; and a species of barberry, resembling that found in New England.

Of gooseberries there are also three varieties, none of them producing very good fruit. They are Ribes Laxiflorum, Bracteosum, and Lacustre.

The salmon berry (Rubus Spectabilis) is abundant on high banks, and in openings in the forest. It resembles the yellow raspberry.

Of plants that creep on the ground there are several varieties, some of them remarkably pretty. Of wild roses, spirea, woodbine, mock-orange, thorn bushes, and other familiar shrubs, there are plenty.

The Devil's Walking-stick (Echinophanax horridum)