Pink Wintergreen - Pyrola asarifolia

Pink Wintergreen
Pyrola asarifolia Michx.

Family: Ericaceae, Heath
Genus: Pyrola

Description
General: evergreen perennial herb from slender, spreading
rhizomes. Flowering stems single, erect, 10-40 cm tall,
naked except for a few, small bracts.

Leaves: several in a basal rosette, their blades round to
elliptic or obovate, rounded to slightly pointed at the tip,
leather-textured, entire to noticeably small-toothed with
veins going beyond the edges, 3-8 cm long and nearly as
wide, dark green and glossy on the upper surfaces, usually
somewhat purplish beneath, not mottled. Leaf stalks
usually at least as long as the blades.

Flowers: pinkish to rose or purplish-red, nodding, 10-15
mm broad, usually 10 to 25 in an elongated cluster. Flower
stalks 3-8 mm long, the bracts at bases linear-lanceolate,
almost as long. Calyx lobes pointed, 2.5-4 mm long. Petals
5-7 mm long, egg-shaped. Anthers slender-tipped at the
lower end, the tubes short and the pores nearly terminal.
Style strongly curved fowrward, 5-8 mm long, with a collar
below the stigma.
Flowering time: June-August.

Fruits: capsules, round, 5-chambered, 7-10 mm broad,
with a persistent, curved style, erect at maturity.

Distribution
Moist, usually wooded sites, foothills to subalpine, in w.
and c. parts of MT. Also almost throughout w. U.S. to AK,
across Canada to n.e. N. America.

Medicinal plant: see below.

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Contents
Identification
English Names Index
Scientific Names Index
Family Index

ssp. bracteata:

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Wintergreen leaves are high in methyl salicylate, a natural painkiller, and they can be chewed and applied to wounds as a poultice in an emergency. Pink wintergreen was considered to be an effective remedy in the treatment of rheumatism. A decoction of the leaves, or the leaves and roots, has been used as an eyewash for sore eyes by the Bella Coola and Woods Cree Tribes. A decoction of the plant was used by the Woods Cree and Penobscot Indians to treat the coughing up of blood. The Shoshoni Indians used a decoction of the root to treat liver complaints. The Micmac and Penobscot Indians also used parts of the plant for gonorrhea and kidney trouble.

Sub-species:

ssp. asarifolia Michx.:
Leaves nearly entire, often cordate, sepals less than 3.5 mm long. The more widespread phase of the species.

ssp. bracteata (Hook.) Haber ( = var. purpurea):
Leaf blades usually pointed at one or both ends and noticeably small-toothed owing to the veins going beyond the leaf edges. Sepals usually at least 3.5 mm long. In our region more common w. of the Cascades.