SALAL  [SAL’-AL]  — noun. Meaning: The salal shrub or its berries.The salal berry; fruit of Gualtheria shallon. Origin: Chinook klkwushala ‘salal berries’. Sometimes called ‘sallal’ or ‘shallon’, the salal (Gaultheria shallon) is an evergreen shrub, restricted mainly to the Cascadian coastline which possess clustered dark-purple berrylike fruit about the size of the common grape.  Before […]

Shot Olallie [shot O-lal’-lie] or [shat U-lal-i] — noun. Meaning: huckleberry Origin: English shot “bullet; lead” + Heiltsuk, olallie “salmon berry”; Chinook, ulali, “berry” The Red Huckleberry (vaccinium parvifolium) is a species native to western North America, where it is common in forests of Cascadia. In the Oregon Coast Range, it is the most common […]

Seahpo olallie [se-áh-po O-lal’-lie] or [se-áh-pult U-lal-i] — noun. Meaning: Raspberry Origin: French, chapeau  “hat”, “cap” + Heiltsuk, olallie “salmon berry”; Chinook, ulali, “berry” There are several varieties of raspberry in Cascadia, including the Snow Raspberry (Rubus nivalis), which is native to northwestern North America: British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, and far northern California, and the […]

AMOTE [a-MO’-teh] or [a-MU-tee],  occasionally corrupted into [al-mo’-ta] — noun. Meaning: Strawberry (plant or fruit) Origin: Chinook amuti; Clatsop tl’amōte, “strawberry”. Fragaria chiloensis, the ‘beach strawberry’ or ‘coastal strawberry’, is one of two species of wild strawberries that were hybridized to create the modern garden strawberry. The plant’s natural range is the Pacific Ocean coast, […]

Olallie [O-lal’-lie] or [U-lal-i] — noun. Meaning: Berry; berries; fruit Origin: From a Lower Chinook úlili ‘salmon-berry’; Heiltsuk, olallie “salmon berry” Originally this word referred only to salmon-berries (Rubus spectabilis), but in Chinook Wawa it grew to mean any sort of “pil olallie” (red berry), along the Salish Sea it became a catch-all for any […]