Plant · P-167

Wintergreen

Gaultheria procumbens

Wintergreen is a low evergreen groundcover of cool, moist woodland floors that produces small scarlet berries with an intense, spicy-mint flavor that improves after a frost - the same plant that supplies natural oil of wintergreen for candy, gum and toothpaste. Its leaves make a tea and have a long history of use for pain relief, and its berries feed birds and small mammals through fall and winter. It needs strongly acidic, humus-rich soil and shaded, cool summers to survive - hot summer heat and alkaline soil are both outside what it tolerates - and the pure essential oil is toxic in large doses and unsafe for anyone allergic to aspirin or under age twelve.