wintergreen

wintergreen or checkerberry, low evergreen plant ( Gaultheria procumbens ) of the family Ericaceae ( heath family), native to sandy and acid woods (usually of evergreens) of E North America and frequently cultivated. It has a creeping stem, erect branches, glossy, oval leaves, and small, waxy, white flowers followed by crimson fruits. The aromatic leaves and fruits are edible; the leaves are a source of wintergreen oil (now mostly obtained from the sweet, or black, birch, Betula lenta, or synthetically). The oil is used in medicine and as a flavoring. A tea has often been made from the leaves, whence two of the many names of the plant, mountain tea and teaberry. There are other species of Gaultheria found in W America and elsewhere; one of these, G. shallon, is called salal or shallon. Some pipsissewa species, of the family Pyrolaceae, are sometimes called wintergreen. True wintergreen is classified in the division Magnoliophyta , class Magnoliopsida, order Ericales, family Ericaceae.

win·ter·green / ˈwintərˌgrēn/ • n. 1. a North American plant from which a pungent oil is obtained, in particular the checkerberry or related shrubs. ∎  (also oil of wintergreen) a pungent oil containing methyl salicylate, now obtained chiefly from the sweet birch or made synthetically, used medicinally and as a flavoring. 2. a low-growing plant (Chimaphila, Pyrola and other genera, family Pyrolaceae or Monotropaceae) of acid soils in north temperate regions, with spikes of white bell-shaped flowers.