Gaultheria procumbens
Gaultheria procumbens
Safety & Hazards
The pure distilled essential oil is toxic in large doses[ 222 Title A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Publication Author Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. Publisher Houghton Mifflin Co. Year 1990 ISBN 0395467225 Description A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties. ].
Botanical Description
Gaultheria procumbens is a low-growing, evergreen shrub with creeping stems from which arise short, slender, unbranched stems 5 - 20cm tall, The plant spreads slowly, forming a cluster of growth[ 270 Title Flora of N. America Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and a medicine. It used to be harvested on a commercial basis to make the essential oil 'oil of wintergreen', but the main source of this is now Betula lenta[ 11 Title Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Publication Author Bean. W. Publisher Murray Year 1981 ISBN - Description A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures. ]. The plant is often gown as an ornamental, where it can be used as a ground cover.