berry · The Trophy Room
Salmonberry (Yellow)
The first berry of the PNW year, and this is its golden form. Salmonberries ripen in two colors on the same tangle of canes — this amber-yellow one and a deep red — and both glow like little lanterns in the shade of wet coastal woods. Mild, juicy, and early.
Identifying
- a raspberry-shaped cluster of drupelets, here a translucent golden-amber
- pulls off hollow like a raspberry; soft and very juicy
- magenta-pink flowers in early spring — among the first blooms of the year
- three-part leaves on lightly prickled canes, often in big thickets by water
Facts
- named because the eggs-in-a-cluster look recalls salmon roe — and because they ripen with the early salmon runs
- the yellow and red forms are the same species, just different color morphs
- a keystone early food for bears, birds, and hungry hikers alike
