This is Starwest's nitrogen-flushed double wall silverfoil pack.

Used as an infusion, extract, tincture and ointment.

Excerpts from 'Wonderful Wintergreen'

by Karyn Siegel-Maier

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/botanical_retired/8450:

Several Native American tribes used wintergreen as a tea for colds and flu,and as a poultice to ease arthritis and rheumatism.

Early American settlers also recognized the value of wintergreen and included it in their kitchens as well as their medicine cabinets. They made a winter tonic of the berries blended with brandy, and their children were given the roots to chew to deter tooth decay. The colonists of the American Revolution often enjoyed wintergreen tea as an alternative to the imported tea so heavily taxed.

Early medicinal formulas using wintergreen to reduce fever, body aches, and muscular pains, were probably quite effective indeed. The active constituent found in the leaves and berries is methyl salicylate, and is closely related to salicylic acid - the forerunner of aspirin. Unlike aspirin, a moderate internal dosage of wintergreen acts as a stomachic and relieves indigestion rather than inducing it.

Wintergreen oil is still a popular addition to toothpaste, gum, candy, and root beer, although true wintergreen oil has for the most part been replaced with a synthetic version made from birch bark.

Cosmetically, wintergreen speeds the healing of skin disorders, and when added to lotions it acts as a natural softener readily absorbed by the skin. In fact, oil of wintergreen was once used to soften leather used in bookbinding. As a liniment, wintergreen is an important ingredient of the popular lotion to relieve overexerted muscles: Ben Gay.

Wintergreen Tea

For every cup of boiling water used add 1 tsp. chopped fresh leaves securely tied in a square of muslin cloth. Steep for 15-20 minutes. You may like this tea iced as well.

Natural Root Beer

5 gallons water ½ cup dry yeast 1½ gallons molasses ½ cup wintergreen leaves, rinsed & dried 1 cup sassafras root bark.

Combine water and molasses and heat just to the boiling point. Remove from heat and allow to stand for two hours. Add the wintergreen, sassafras root bark, and yeast. Stir just until blended. Allow to ferment overnight at room temperature. Strain and refrigerate.

Grieve's classic 'A Modern Herbal': 'Tonic, stimulant, astringent, aromatic. Useful as a diuretic and emmenagogue and for chronic mucous discharges. Is said to be a good galactogogue.'

'The oil of Gaultheria is its most important product. It has all the properties of the salicylates and therefore is most beneficial in acute rheumatism, but must be given internally in capsules, owing to its pungency, death from inflammation of the stomach having been known to result from frequent and large doses of it. It is readily absorbed by the skin, but is liable to give rise to an eruption, so it is advisable to use for external application the synthetic oil of Wintergreen, Methyl Salicylate, or oil from the bark of Betula lenta, which is almost identical with oil of Gaultheria. In this form, it is a very valuable external application for rheumatic affections in all chronic forms of joint and muscular troubles, lumbago, sciatica, etc.'

'The leaves have found use as a substitute for tea and as a flavouring for genuine tea. The berries form a winter food for animals, partridges, deer, etc. They have been used, steeped in brandy, to produce a bitter tonic taken in small quantities. The oil is a flavouring agent for tooth powders, liquid dentifrices, pastes, etc., especially if combined with menthol and eucalyptus.'

'Dosage: Capsules of oil of Gaultheris, 10 minims in each, 1, three times daily.'

King’s 1898 Dispensatory: 'Wintergreen possesses stimulant, aromatic, and astringent properties. It is used in infusion as an astringent in chronic mucous discharges, as a diuretic in dysuria, as an emmenagogue, as a stimulant in cases of debility, and is said to augment the flow from the lactiferous vessels of nursing women, but this is doubtful. It is also recommended as a valuable remedy for articular and muscular rheumatism.'

'The infusion and the essence both relieve irritation of the urethra and bladder, and are adapted to the incipient stages of renal inflammation. Tubal nephritis is alleged to have been arrested by it even when examination has revealed in the urine the presence of blood corpuscles and tube casts (Webster).'

'Scudder recommends it in spermatorrhoea with increased sexual excitement, and as a sedative in irritation and inflammation of the urethra, prostate gland and bladder.'

'The volatile oil (see Oleum Gaultheriae), or its tincture, is used to render syrups and other preparations more agreeable. The oil allays the pain of carious teeth, and large doses of it administered internally have caused death by producing inflammation of the stomach; the essence of wintergreen is a carminative, and is sometimes used in the flatulent colic of infants.'

'An infusion of the leaves or whole plant may be drunk freely. Dose of essence, 1 to 30 drops; of specific gaultheria, 1 to 20 drops.'

American Materia Medica, 1919 (Ellingwood): 'It is of benefit in neuralgia, tic douloureux, gonorrheal rheumatism, inflammation of the bladder, irritation of the prostate gland, dysuria, sexual excitement in male or female, spermatorrhea without impotency, acute articular rheumatism, migraine, sciatica, diabetes, diphtheria, chronic mucous discharges and toothache (locally). A liniment of the oil is useful in allaying the pain of rheumatism.'

'Asthmatic breathing of a non-paroxysmal character is relieved by this remedy, as is asthmatic cough, and cough characterized by constriction or tightness at the supra-sternal notch. In the cough of asthmatic bronchitis, or in dry, harsh, persistent bronchial or phthisical cough, this agent acts nicely.'

'It is a serviceable remedy in hepatic congestion, and in congestion of the glandular structures of the entire gastro-intestinal tract. Its influence over the portal circulation is most pronounced.'

'In ovarian conditions inducing too frequent menstruation, with congestion of the pelvic circulation, in addition to the conditions above named, as in enlargement of the uterus, with a swollen, engorged condition of the cervix, it is directly useful.'

'The oil is now freely used externally in the treatment of articular rheumatism and also in chorea with excellent results. In the latter disorder it is applied, if necessary, over the upper and lower limbs, alternately, and over the spine. It may be given internally at the same time. The application may be confined with oiled silk.'

'An ointment made of ichthyol and the oil of gaultheria in a proper vehicle, rubbed together thoroughly, makes an excellent application to the joints in acute, and in gonorrheal rheumatism. It acts equally well on the original disease. Six drops of the oil is given three times a clay, and this will cure many cases. If given in conjunction with gelsemium and cimicifuga in the first stages, it will probably shorten or even abort the disease.'