Wintergreen

(Gaultheria procumbens)

 

Color Photograph: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)

Identification: Plant a creeping stem with erect leaf and flower branches. Flowers, berries, and foliage with a wintergreen aroma when crushed. Flowers white, ovate, egg-shaped, waxy, hanging downward, and arising from the top of the plant. Leaves thick, shiny, ovate, with small marginal teeth. Leaves usually in clusters of two or three at the apex. Erect branches 2 to 5 inches in height.

Distribution: Throughout much of Canada southward to New Jersey, and further south in the mountains to Georgia and Alabama.

Habitat: Wintergreen is found in forest and forest clearings.

Flowering period: July to August.

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)

Similar Species:

The small, white, egg-shaped hanging flowers and the wintergreen aroma are distinctive features of Wintergreen.

Similar Species

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