Wintergreen n. (Bot.) A plant which keeps its leaves green through the winter. Note: In England, the name wintergreen is applied to the species of Pyrola which in America are called English wintergreen, and shin leaf (see Shin leaf, under Shin.) In America, the name wintergreen is given to Gaultheria procumbens, a low evergreen aromatic plant with oval leaves clustered at the top of a short stem, and bearing small white flowers followed by red berries; called also checkerberry, and sometimes, though improperly, partridge berry. Chickweed wintergreen, a low perennial primulaceous herb (Trientalis Americana); also called star flower.
Flowering wintergreen, a low plant (Polygala paucifolia) with leaves somewhat like those of the wintergreen (Gaultheria), and bearing a few showy, rose-purple blossoms.
oil of wintergreen, An aromatic oil, consisting almost entirely of methyl salicylate (CH3CO.O.C6H4.OH), obtained by distillation of an extract of the wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens); it can also be obtained from some other plants. It is used as a flavoring agent for tooth powders and pastes, sometimes combined with menthol or eucalyptus. It is called also oil of teaberry, oil of partridgeberry, and oil of gaultheria.
Spotted wintergreen, a low evergreen plant (Chimaphila maculata) with ovate, white-spotted leaves.
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