Salal is a dense, robust, thicket-forming subshrub or shrub, from 1-4 ft. high, with erect or spreading, intricately branched stems which can root when reclining. The large, leathery, evergreen leaves are round to oval in shape and dull green becoming reddish in winter. A shrub-like plant with spreading or erect, hairy stems, often in large dense patches, and whitish to pale pink, urn-shaped flowers hanging along reddish or salmon racemes in upper leaf axils. Pendent, pink, urn-shaped flowers occur in racemes and are followed by dark-blue berries.
The berries are a source of food for wildlife and were once also eaten by coastal Native Americans, one group of whom, the Chinook, gave the plant its common name, Salal. The leaves are often used in flower arrangements. –