ALBERT H. MARCKWARDT, in discussing the Indian influence on American English, says, "It is also noteworthy that word borrowing from the Indians began very early.... There were many more later borrowings of course-sixty-seven have been found in the journals of the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition alone-but many of these words, such as wapatoo, carkajou, and salal, were of short duration in the English language."' However, my own recollection of salal picking in the area of Courtenay, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and the reported sale of salal to florists for use in arrangements indicate that it is a mistake to say the word salal was "of short duration in the English language." Salal is the common name for Gaultheria shallon, a member of the heath or Ericaceae family. It is an evergreen shrub indigenous to the Pacific coast between Santa Barbara County, California, and British Columbia. Salal serves as a food for animals;2 its berries were eaten by the Indians,3 and British Columbians make them into a relish or jam, much like cranberry sauce. Salal has also been used as a folk medicine.4 Because the cut foliage of the shrub is commonly used in floral arrangements, salal is commercially valuable.5 Elijah Harry Criswell's Lewis and Clark: Linguistic Pioneers, which Marckwardt (p. 86) mentions in passing, lists wappato, carcajou, and salal as "Indian words borrowed."6 It can be inferred that Marckwardt ac-