Salmonberry

Chehalis - ye´twanl     
Quinault - k’wklaxnix

Family:  Rose (Rosaceae)     
Genus:  Rubus     
Species:  spectabilis

Botanical Description:  Straight, branching shrub to 4 m tall, twigs bent with prickles; shredding, golden-brown bark.  Deciduous, dark green, sharply-toothed alternate leaves in 3 leaflets.  Large pink to reddish-purple flowers 4 cm across, up to 4 on short branches.  Mushy, raspberry-looking, yellow-reddish berries.  Prefers low to subalpine elevations, moist-wet forests, streamsides, avalanche tracks, disturbed sites.

Ethnographic Information:

• Berries eaten fresh by all tribes
• Berries not dried because of their high water content
• Roasted new sprouts eaten with dried salmon
• Spring stem sprouts gathered as a green vegetable, peeled & eaten raw, or steamed
• Branch used for pipe stems
• Bark & leaves used in various pain-relieving preparations
• Ripening salmonberries associated with the song of  Swainson’s thrush, in many  languages called, the “salmonberry bird”