Oil of Wintergreen for Natural Pain Relief

By The Mother Earth News Editors
Published on January 1, 1982
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Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) has 33 common names!
Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) has 33 common names!
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Poultices of the wintergreen leaves can be used on boils and swellings.
Poultices of the wintergreen leaves can be used on boils and swellings.
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Partridge, grouse and deer love to eat the red wintergreen berries.
Partridge, grouse and deer love to eat the red wintergreen berries.

Lately, more and more people have begun to understand just how limited — in both variety and nutritional value — our “modern” diets have become. This realization has sparked a new and widespread interest in the culinary and therapeutic uses of herbs, those plants which — although not well-known today — were, just one short generation ago, honored “guests” on the dinner tables and in the medicine chests of our grandparents’ homes. In this regular feature, we’ll examine the availability, cultivation and benefits of our “forgotten” vegetable foods and remedies, and — we hope — help prevent the loss of still another bit of ancestral lore.

Wintergreen

If you enjoy walking in mountain woods, you may already have met this charming herb. Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens ) is common over the eastern United States from Canada to the hills of Georgia, and thrives in the acidic leaf-mold soil and filtered shade often found at the edges of forests. It grows from a creeping underground stem that lies just below the surface of the soil. From this “root” individual plants rise some 2 to 6 inches, bearing alternate, broad, leathery leaves that are glossy green above and paler beneath.

Nodding white flowers, each shaped like a single lily-of-the-valley blossom, appear in July or August, followed by shiny red berries that last all winter and are an important food source for grouse and deer. Years ago, they were also sold, as confections, in the markets of Boston.

The Healing Oil of Wintergreen Leaves

Wintergreen leaves were often used by the Indians as treatment for toothaches and as a rub or tea for relieving the pains of rheumatism. Poultices of the foliage were applied to boils, felons (whitlows), swellings and inflammations — while small doses of wintergreen tea were reputed to improve one’s general health and sense of well-being. (Large or too frequently taken amounts of the beverage, however, may have the opposite effect, causing inflammation of the stomach, swelling of the tongue, vomiting and rapid heartbeat!) And oil of wintergreen (natural or synthetic) has long been a major ingredient in ointments and liniments.

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