102-2 
History and Habitat.—The wintergreen is indigenous to the eastern portion 
of the United States, growing from Maine to South Carolina, and westward to 
Central Kentucky, especially among the mountains in the shade of pines, flower- 
ing in July. The strange fruit hangs, and retains its bright color, until the next 
spring, then rots upon the pedicels or drops to the ground, thus allowing the 
escape of the seeds. The common names given to Gaultheria procumbens, Chima- 
Phila umbellata, and Mitchella repens are very confusing, being interchanged in 
different sections of the country. The berries when fresh, and the young leaves, 
are very pleasant to the palate, being esteemed highly by many, and forming an 
article for sale by hucksters in some localities. They form, especially among the 
mountains of Pennsylvania, together with those of MWv/chella, the principal food 
of partridges, grouse and deer, in the late autumn months. 
Distillation of the oil of wintergreen, for use as a flavoring extract—to which 
its principal commercial value is due—is confined to men of limited means, in those 
districts where its growth is most abundant. The apparatus used is simple and 
movable, being shifted as the supply of leaves gives out. It consists usually of a 
copper whiskey-still. This is placed near some rivulet with a sufficient fall to keep 
the cooler filled. It is entirely invested by brick, with the exception of the cap, 
filled with leaves covered with water, and heated by an open fire beneath. The 
volatile oil, together with the steam, passes through the condensing worm into the 
receiver, which is kept filled with water. The oil is collected by a separating fun-— 
nel, placed in the bottom of the receiver, and the water used over and again to | 
economize the product. The average yield is ten pounds from a ton of the leaves; 
greater in dry seasons. 
Most of the so-called oil of wintergreen is made from young birch trees 
(Betula lente), in a similar manner to the process described above. Mr. G. W. 
Kennedy decides * that there is but little variance between the oil of wintergreen 
and that of birch. This, as far as he determined after many tests, consists only in 
_ a slight difference in the boiling point, : 
_ Gaultheria is only mentioned in the U, S. Ph. 
iven. In the Eclectic Materia Medica it meets 
oe i 
¢T USED AND PREPARATION. 
d and pounded to a pulp and 
taken, the pulp thoroughly mi 
ol added. The whole is then poured into a well-stoppered bottle and 
remain for eight days in a dark sd 
, no officinal preparation being 
with the same lack of popularity. — 
