Wintergreen
Yep, this tiny evergreen shrub is where the original Oil of Wintergreen comes from. The essential oil (methyl salicylate) used in flavoring is now mainly synthesized.
Gaultheria procumbens
Wintergreen is also known as Teaberry. Tea made from the leaves is a traditional folk remedy used to treat headaches, colds, stomachaches and fevers.
WARNING: from the Peterson Medicinal Plants Field Guide
Wintergreen’s essential oil is highly toxic. It can be absorbed through the skin and cause liver and kidney problems.
Guess I’m missing something. It’s OK to eat but don’t get any on you? Just shows that before using any herbal home concoction you should be well informed and KNOW what you’re doing and how to use plants safely.
Ferns attempting to find a niche and some British Soldiers (lichen in lower right) join the Wintergreen to form a rock garden I’d love to take home.
Wintergreen has short upright stems (3 – 5 inch) that emerge from creeping underground stems forming colonies. The Wintergreen I photographed was growing on rock and the underground stems had little more than moss to grow in.
Bright red berries follow the white, nodding bell shaped flowers.
The first two photos are linked to open a larger (1024 x 768) image in a new window. Take a closer look or use as your personal desktop background. No other use is implied. Just ask if you want to use them for another purpose. I’m easy.
13 Responses
Leave a Comment
Comment Feed
You might want to see my response to the stuff people throw in the box
Subscribe in a reader
November 25th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Most essential oils are toxic. Large quantities of plants are used to make just a small amount of essential oil. While they are used commercially because a little goes a long way, they should be treated with caution and respect. That being said, I love wintergreen berries, and the new red leaves are pleasant to chew on. Growing low to the ground like they do washing them first might be a nifty idea.
November 25th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Beautiful Fall leaves(-: I have never seen Wintergreen before(-:
I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!
November 26th, 2009 at 1:54 am
I honestly had no idea that wintergreen came from a specific plant like this. I thought it was just from the same mint plant that anything else came from. I thought maybe they just altered the flavor a little. Well, I learned a cool new thing!
November 26th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Interesting! I have some winterberry but that’s not at all the same thing!
November 26th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Nice photos. Have you ever tried growing this stuff? What a pain in the butt. If the exact conditions aren’t met you might as well forget about it.
Have a nice holiday.
November 26th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I wonder if they use this for teaberry gum. Gorgeous photos and interesting plant.
Happy Thanksgiving.
November 26th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Oh, du thé des bois !
We use to chew on it all the time growing up. It’s been ages but I still can taste it now ! YUM.
Happy Thanksgiving
November 28th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Hey- I’ve missed you. That middle picture is really cool.
November 29th, 2009 at 1:30 am
What a pretty rock garden! I’d love to see this growing wild. We have some that I got at a nursery that specializes in natives, but they didn’t colonize. But then they don’t have that site, either! Great photos
November 30th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
One of my favourite plants. Love to munch on the berries when out roaming through the woods.
December 10th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Found your site through Blotanical. great pics.
jim
December 12th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Hi- I have chosen this blog as one of the 20 Charter Inductees into a Favorite Nature Blog feed. I’ve been building it over the last few days, and plan to start promoting it tomorrow. See http://favoritenatureblogs.blogspot.com/
Over the next few months I would like to “interview” each of the bloggers, and do one post on each person.
Hoping that this will bring a little more traffic your way.
Celebrating Nature, sharkbytes
January 25th, 2010 at 3:16 am
Such a beautiful composition! It’s so nice to be able to enjoy scenes like this “in the wild”, since re-creating it yourself would be next to impossible. (Well, it would be for ME, anyhow