[After Du. wintergroen, G. wintergrün.]
1. Name for various plants of low growth or creeping habit whose leaves remain green in winter. a. Any plant of the genus Pyrola, esp. P. minor, a woodland plant with roundish drooping white flowers. Also applied to plants of the allied genus Chimaphila, as C. (P.) maculata (Spotted W.), and C. (P.) umbellata (Pipsissewa or Prince’s Pine).
Also in pl. as a collective name for the order Pyrolaceæ = the suborder Pyrolaæ of Ericaceæ.
1548. Turner, Names of Herbes (E.D.S.), 48. Limonium named of the Herbaries Pyrola, is named in duch wintergrowen…. It maye be called in englishe wyntergrene.
1640. Parkinson, Theat. Bot., 508. Pyrola nostra vulgaris. Our ordinary Winter greene…. Pyrola tenerior. Slender Winter greene.
1771. J. R. Forster, Flora Amer. Septentr., 20. Pyrola rotundifolia. Winter-green, round-leaved. Virginia.
1814. Pursh, Flora Amer. Septentr., I. 300. Chimaphila maculata.… C. corymbosa.… Both species are handsome evergreens, and known by the name of Winter-green.
1861. S. Thomson, Wild Fl., III. (ed. 4), 222. The Pyrolas, or winter-greens.
1871. Macmillan, True Vine, vii. 273. The winter-green and the palmy shield-fern creep into the solitude of the pine wood.
b. The N. American plant Gaultheria procumbens (Aromatic, Creeping, or Spring W.), bearing drooping white flowers and edible scarlet berries; also called Checkerberry, Partridge-berry, Tea-berry, etc.
Oil of wintergreen, wintergreen oil, a heavy volatile oil obtained from the leaves of this plant, used medicinally as an aromatic stimulant, and for flavoring confectionery, etc.
1778. J. Carver, Trav. N. Amer., xix. 509. Winter Green … is an ever-green … found on dry heaths;… in the winter it is full of red berries about the size of a sloe.
1829. Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., 69. Some of these oils, are those of the Orange,… Peppermint, and Wintergreen.
a. 1841. Bryant, Strange Lady, 31.
| Where cornels arch their cool dark boughs o’er beds of wintergreen, | |
| And never at his father’s door again was Albert seen. |
1866. Odling, Anim. Chem., 87. Wood-spirit is a constituent residue of the essential oil of wintergreen.
1909. Chemist. & Druggist, 20 Feb., 315/1. This, reacting with the methyl salicylate in the wintergreen oil in presence of alcohol, forms salicylate of iron.
c. Chickweed Wintergreen, either species of Trientalis (T. europæa or americana), woodland plants of high latitudes or altitudes.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 332. Winter Green, with Chickweed Flowers.
1789. W. Aiton, Hortus Kewensis, I. 493. Common Trientalis, or Chick-weed Winter-green.
1840. R. Bremner, Excurs. Denmark, etc. I. 370. The Wintergreen (Trientalis Europæa), the loveliest of all the flowers of the northern flora.
d. Flowering Wintergreen, the Fringed Milkwort of N. America, Polygala paucifolia.
1865. A. Gray, Man. Bot. U.S., 88.
2. Usually pl. (with hyphen, or as two words). An evergreen. Also fig. ? Obs.
1681. Cotton, Wond. Peak, 83. For Winter-Greens the Yew, Holly, and Box.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 383. The best time for the removing of all Trees, except Winter Greens … is either in October or February.
1729. Savage, Wanderer, I. 196. Thick on this Top o’ergrown for Walks are seen Grey, leafless Wood, and winter Greens between!
1850. Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter, Introd. (1883), 33. This Inspector … was … one of the most wonderful specimens of winter-green that you would be likely to discover in a life-time’s search.
3. (As two words or hyphened.) Greens for winter use.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), I. 149. Winter greens comprise those varieties of the Brassica tribe, which authors are in the habit of describing as Coleworts, Borecole, Savoys, Scotch Kale, Sprouts, &c.
1886. Hardy, Woodlanders, iv. Rabbits that had been eating the winter-greens in the gardens.
