wintergreen

noun

• 1a North American plant from which a pungent oil is obtained:

  • the checkerberry or a related shrub whose leaves produce oil. a birch tree whose bark produces oil (Betula lenta, family Betulaceae).
• (also oil of wintergreen) [mass noun] a pungent oil containing methyl salicylate, obtained from the wintergreen or made synthetically, used medicinally and as a flavouring.

• 2a low-growing plant of acid soils in north temperate regions, with spikes of white bell-shaped flowers.

  • Pyrola and other genera, family Pyrolaceae