Botanical Name: Rubus spectabilis

Common Name: Salmonberry

Other Names: Alagnaq  (derived from the aleut word berry)

Found in: Throughout Alaska, except for the extreme north Arctic, from thickets, woods, and moist meadows to bogs.

Physical Characteristics:  This shrub forms dense thickets in moist woods. Stems are heavily bristled. Leaves are 3-foliate and toothed. Flowers are reddish-purple and the fruit is red to yellow (Hulten 1968)

Nutritional Value:  Excellent source of Vitamin A and good source of Vitamin C and iron.

Parts of the plant used:  stems, leaves, fruit

When plant should be gathered:  stems, May and June, leaves during summer, pick berries in June and July

Plant applications:  chew, wash, tea/food

Reported Benefits:  breathing problems, skin problems, food

Preparation/Processing:  Breathing problems:  People peel the young stems of this shrub in May and June and eat the stems raw. They are believed to be medicine for breathing problems.

Skin problems:  An infusion of salmon berry leaves is a wash for skin problems.