Folk names: round-leaved wintergreen, periwinkle, birch, wintergreen, pear, tears, live grass, wild incense, field pepper.
Wintergreen (Pyrola rotundifolia L.)A perennial herbaceous plant of the wintergreen family (Pyrolaceae), with a longish branched creeping rhizome, from the nodes of which adventitious roots and above-ground shoots depart. Stem erect, leafless, obtusely ribbed, up to 30 cm in height. The leaves are collected in a basal rosette, often wintering, leathery, glossy, oval or rounded, almost entire. The flowers are white or pink, drooping, fragrant, cup-shaped, collected in a versatile long brush, on long pedicels. The fruit is a five-celled, multi-seeded spherical box. Blossoms in May – July, fruits ripen in August – September. It grows on fresh sandy and sandy loamy soils in coniferous and deciduous forests. The generic name for the plant is given for the outward resemblance of flowers to a pear, although in wintergreen they are much smaller in size.
COLLECTION AND DRYING OF RAW MATERIALS
Medicinal raw materials are wintergreen leaves, which are collected during flowering. Dry in the shade or in well-ventilated areas, laying out a layer of 2-3 cm.
PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES
The plant has astringent, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, hemostatic, diuretic and diaphoretic properties.
APPLICATIONS IN MEDICINE
Aboveground part. In Tibetan medicine, infusion, decoction and tincture – for liver diseases, bone tuberculosis; as antipyretic, choleretic and sedative. In European folk medicine, decoction and tincture inside – as a diuretic and bactericidal; with cystitis, dysuria, ascites, diabetes, diseases of the heart, liver, kidneys, gastrointestinal diseases, headache, throat diseases, cough, boils, scurvy and women’s diseases, after childbirth, with hernia. Decoction externally – for the treatment of wounds and rashes; dried and crushed – hemostatic for cuts. Leaves. Essence from fresh leaves – in homeopathy. In folk medicine, infusion and tea – for diseases of the liver and biliary tract, acute gastrointestinal diseases, chronic kidney diseases, cystitis, prostatitis and ascites, colds, rheumatism. Decoction and tincture – fixing, hemostatic. Dry powder, gruel from fresh leaves, sometimes decoction – wound healing, for the treatment of purulent wounds and rashes; baths – for rheumatism. Juice – in the treatment of difficult-to-heal wounds. Flowers. Infusion – for washing the eyes with inflammation.
DOSAGE FORMS, METHOD OF APPLICATION AND DOSES
♦ Infusion of wintergreen leaves: 2 teaspoons of raw materials are poured into 200 ml of boiling water, insisted, then filtered. Take 1/4 cup 3-4 times every day.* The poisonousness of the plant for farm animals has not been reliably established, but eating wintergreen can cause blood in the urine.
APPLICATIONS IN OTHER FIELDS
Leaves are a substitute for tea. Decorative.