Читать книгу Afoot and Afield: Portland/Vancouver. A Comprehensive Hiking Guide онлайн

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Below these small trees is a layer of large and small shrubs. Once again, unless you want to be an expert, you need only to learn a handful of the most common species. Many of the larger shrubs are berries, like salmonberry, thimbleberry, and blackberry, all of which have tasty edible fruit in season. Other common large shrubs include elderberry (both red and blue varieties), serviceberry, snowberry, and devil’s club. Probably the most abundant large shrub at mid-elevations in the Cascades is the Pacific rhododendron. From May to early July, the showy pink blossoms of this evergreen plant put on displays that can even make clear-cuts look good—well, almost.

Moving down to the forest’s ground floor takes us to the low-growing shrubs. The most important member of this group, especially for your taste buds, is the huckleberry. From mid-August until mid-September the positively delicious berries of this abundant mid- to high-elevation plant will slow the berry-picking hiker’s progress to a crawl. Other common low shrubs include kinnnikinnick, salal, and, in the alpine zone, both pink and white heather. No list of low shrubs would be complete without mentioning one of the most abundant members of the group, the yellow-blooming Oregon grape.