Wintergreen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wintergreen is a term that can refer to various groups of plants:

• Wintergreen once commonly referred to plants that continue photosynthesis (remain green) throughout the winter. The term evergreen is now more commonly used for this characteristic.
  • Some species of the shrub genus Gaultheria in the closely related family Ericaceae also demonstrate this characteristic and are called wintergreens in North America, the most common generally being the Eastern Teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens).
  • Several genera of herbaceous plants in the family Pyrolaceae, notably Pyrola, Orthilia, Moneses and Chimaphila, demonstrate this characteristic and are called wintergreens.

• Wintergreen is also the name given to a range of evergreen plants throughout the world, particularly Gaultheria species, that share the common characteristic of producing oil of wintergreen, the chemical methyl salicylate, which gives plants a distinctive "medicinal" smell when bruised. This oil is used in some kinds of chewing gum and candy, as an alternative to the more common peppermint and spearmint oils. It is also a potentially entertaining source of triboluminescence; when mixed with sugar and dried, it gains the tendency to build up electrical charge when ground, producing the very real Wint'O'Green Lifesavers phenomenon, where you can go into a dark room, wait for your eyes to adjust, and then see sparks in a mirror while chewing the candy with your mouth open.
  • Some species of birch also produce oil of wintergreen, but these deciduous trees are not called wintergreens.

• Some species of the herbaceous genus Trientalis in the unrelated family Primulaceae are known as 'Chickweed Wintergreen'.

Wintergreen may also refer to:

• Wintergreen, a type of evergreen plant that produces oil of wintergreen
  • Methyl salicylate, also known as oil of wintergreen
• Wintergreen (book), a book by Robert Pyle
• Wintergreen (comics), a character in the Teen Titans comic
• Wintergreen Ski Resort, located in Virginia
• Wintergreen (band)
• ex-PFC Wintergreen, a fictional character from Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22