Witnessed by: Western
Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), of the Ericaceae family. Low creeping evergreen subshrub with glossy leathery leaves, waxy white bells and scarlet berries; native range: acid woodland floors and sandy barrens of eastern North America. Globally recognized as wintergreen, checkerberry, teaberry, boxberry, mountain tea, partridge berry in English. The part used is leaf, and the volatile oil distilled from it. Leaves leathery and dark, releasing on bruising the sharp sweet penetrating smell of wintergreen; the oil colourless to pale red, intensely aromatic, the taste hot, sweetish and pungent.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
WINTERGREEN
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- wintergreen
- Scientific name
- Gaultheria procumbens L.
- Family
- Ericaceae
Form
- Part used
- leaf, and the volatile oil distilled from it
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- aromatic · pungent · astringent
Temperature
- Western
- hot
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- joints · nerves · skin · kidneys
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- stimulant, aromatic and astringent; anodyne and antirheumatic; diuretic and diaphoretic; the oil rubefacient and counter-irritant on the skin, and internally an emmenagogue and galactagogue in the old accounts
Cautions
Contraindications: salicylate sensitivity or aspirin allergy, children (Reye's syndrome risk), pregnancy and breastfeeding, bleeding disorders; the oil is not for internal use
Toxicity: the oil is almost pure methyl salicylate and is severely toxic swallowed — a teaspoonful has killed a child; it is absorbed freely through the skin, so even external use can be overdone. Poisoning brings vomiting, ringing ears, rapid breathing, convulsions and collapse.
Interactions
- Western
- anticoagulants: its salicylate adds to anticoagulant action and to salicylate load, raising the risk of bleeding — the oil is absorbed through the skin as well as swallowed · antiplatelet agents: salicylate compounds the inhibition of platelet aggregation
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