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Webster 1913 Edition

Wintergreen

Win′ter-greenˊ

,
Noun.
(Bot.)
A plant which keeps its leaves green through the winter.
☞ 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
.

Definition 2024

wintergreen

wintergreen

English

Noun

wintergreen ‎(plural wintergreens)

  1. (obsolete) Any evergreen plant.
  2. One of various unrelated evergreen plants, including:
    1. Plants in shrub genus Gaultheria, commonly known as wintergreen, especially:
      1. Gaultheria procumbens, native to North America, having solitary white flowers and aromatic leaves (checkerberry or teaberry)
      2. Gaultheria humifusa – alpine wintergreen
      3. Gaultheria ovatifolia – western teaberry or Oregon spicy wintergreen
      4. Chimaphila maculata – striped wintergreen
    2. Plants in any of several genera in the herbaceous family Ericaceae, including:
      1. Genus Pyrola, native to northern temperate and Arctic regions.
      2. Genus Orthilia
      3. Genus Moneses
      4. Genus Chimaphila (prince's pine)
    3. Some species of the herbaceous genus Trientalis, in family Primulaceae {chickweed wintergreen)
  3. The spicy red berries of Gaultheria procumbens.
  4. The oil, methyl salicylate, obtained from these berries.
  5. The aroma of the oil, methyl salicylate, however derived.

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