They can grow in places where trees cannot, building and holding soil in extreme areas. They often provide more direct food to wildlife and are essential to the ecology of our coast. Natural old growth forest is more often a mosaic of trees and bushy openings, forest with three layers-the tree canopy above, a bush level one to four meters high and herbs at ground level. If you do any wandering into coastal bush, bring your compass-no excuses. Bushes can be attractive-we ship salal leaves all over the world to provide backdrop for floral arrangements.
Bushes can be useful-ocean spray's hard wood was used for all sorts of tools.
And bushes can be delicious-many on this month's checklist have yummy berries for your bearlike browsing. Most of BC's predominant coastal bushes belong to just two families. The very successful heath family includes heathers, rhodos, salal, and all the huckleberries and blueberries-together they from the vast majority of the coastal shrub layer. The rose family is more prickly, and includes things like thimble, salmon and blackberries as well as wild roses of course. I've included a couple others on this list- scotch broom is a legume and devil's club belongs to the ginseng family.