Gathering Medicinal Wintergreen

Wintergreen ( Gaultheria procumbens ) Also known as - eastern teaberry, checkerberry, boxberry, American wintergreen, Canada tea, checkerberry, deerberry, ground berry, hillberry, mountain tea, partridge berry, spiceberry, spicy wintergreen, spring wintergreen, wax cluster.

Mohawks, as well as Ojibwes, and others, knew the tea as medicinal as well as a healthful beverage. Bright red berries ripen in autumn and improve with freezing so harvest them in the winter. The berries were cooked into pies and eaten raw during the winter by some tribes.

It contains methyl salycliates, the active painkilllers of aspirin, useful for colds, headaches, stomachaches, fevers, kidney ailments; externally, wash for rheumatism, sore muscles, lumbago. It also has antiseptic, carminative, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic properties.

Such names as "teaberry" emphasize importance as a year-round beverage, and as a food flavoring for meat and fish cooked with fermented leaves. The leaves were also used as a potherb or eaten as a snack.

In the past it was the main source of "wintergreen oil," which was used as a flavoring in candies, chewing gum, liquor and some medicine. Today wintergreen oil is produced synthetically, and used in many OTC topical pain relief preparations.

Where it's found: Poor soil, woods, clearings. Canada and northern U.S. south in the mountains to Alabama and Georgia, west to Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Flowers: July - August

Fruit: August - next June

Use: The leaves can be gathered throughout the year and used to make an excellent medicinal tea. Both the tender new leaves and berries can be used as trailside nibbles or added to salads. The berries often remain on the plant until the next flowering season.

Animals that eat wintergreen are wild turkey, sharp-tailed grouse, northern bobwhite, ring-necked pheasant, black bear, white-footed mouse, and red fox. Wintergreen is a favorite food of the eastern chipmunk, and the leaves are a minor winter food of the gray squirrel.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Wintergreen
• Gaultheria procumbens
• eastern teaberry
• checkerberry
• boxberry
• American wintergreen
• Canada tea
• deerberry
• ground berry
• hillberry
• mountain tea
• partridge berry
• spiceberry
• spicy wintergreen
• spring wintergreen
• wax cluster
• medicinal
• edible

[TheWoodsmenJoe]

great info thnx for sharing

[Prepare2Survive]

@TheWoodsmenJoe

You're welcome 

[Prepare2Survive]

@TheSonofthunder7

If you do a google " image " search for ' gaultheria procumbens range ' the second picture that comes up shows that it doesn't grow in your area. The main 2 books I use are peterson field guides. One is on edible plants and the other is on medicinal plants. Even though those books are for eastern / central United States there still should be a lot of plants in those books that you'll find in your area. I bought them on amazon for about $10.

[Prepare2Survive]

@MiWilderness

Yeah, Partridge Berry ( Mitchella repens ) is also called Squaw Vine because the leaves were used for menstrual difficulties. The leaves are much smaller than wintergreen and the berries have 2 dimples because it's the only plant that produces 2 flowers that turn into 1 berry.

[MiWilderness]

@Prepare2Survive partridge berry! That's the plant I kept trying to remember the name of as I watched your vid. They seem to grow in the same places.

[TheSonofthunder7]

@Prepare2Survive On the wintergreen does it just grow primarily in the eastern states or what ? I'm kind of new to the medicinal herb field and not exactly sure where all the stuff grows, and what book would you suggest I pick up so i can see what in my area i can get and use regularly for that purpose. Just to give a little background, I do live in the upper midwest.

[Prepare2Survive]

@steintanz

You're welcome. According to Sepp you have something similar in Europe called " Niedere Scheinbeere " or in English " Low Gaultheria "

[Prepare2Survive]

@dragonflyhiker

Thanks, it's my first time experimenting with the Microsoft video editor.

[Prepare2Survive]

@bushcraftbartons

You're welcome Mike. Merry Christmas

[Prepare2Survive]

@TheSonofthunder7

Thanks, it's my first time experimenting with the Microsoft video editor. 

[Prepare2Survive]

@MiWilderness

Yeah, last year I saw a lot of berries, but this year I haven't seen many. I've seen a lot of the partridge berries this year, but they don't have any flavor like the wintergreen does.