Wintergreen
Latin Name:
Pyrola grandiflora
Categories:
Uses:
As medicine
Ruth Welsh’s mother taught her to use wintergreen or large-flowered wintergreen for pain. The leaves of this plant can be used all winter. Ruth said,
...you know where [the wintergreen] patches are and you dig the snow away, brush the last of the snow away from the plants, and you can still pick the leaves.
The leaves are crushed and a warm poultice is made to relieve pain caused by burns or for arthritic or joint pain or pain from cuts.
Source: Andre, Alestine and Alan Fehr, Gwich'in Ethnobotany, 2nd ed. (2002)
