Uses
Wintergreen berries, from Gaultheria procumbens, are used medicinally. Native Americans brewed a tea from the leaves to alleviate rheumatic symptoms, headache, fever, sore throat and various aches and pains. During the American Revolution, wintergreen leaves were used as a substitute for tea, which was scarce.
Wintergreen is a common flavoring in American products ranging from root beer, chewing gum, mints and candies to smokeless tobacco such as dipping tobacco (American "dip" snuff) and snus. It is also a common flavoring for dental hygiene products such as mouthwash and toothpaste.
Wintergreen oil can also be used in fine art printing applications to transfer a color photocopy image or color laser print to a high-rag content art paper, such as a hot-press watercolor paper. The transfer method involves coating the source image with the wintergreen oil then placing it face-down on the target paper and pressing the pieces of paper together under pressure using a standard etching press.
Artificial wintergreen oil, called methyl salicylate, is used in microscopy because of its high refractive index.
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