[Jewelry making - Article 01320] - Re: [Orchid] Wintergreen Oil - Safety note

[Patricia Hicks]

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    For all the newbies, and the oldies who forgot we had a thread going
    on Oil of Wintergreen and where it came from in October of 2003.
    Check archives if you like. If you don't, here is a short bit you
    might find interesting, and should put down urban legends about the
    stuff being poisonous. I grow the wintergreen birches in my yard and
    chew on a twig, as Native Americans did long ago, calling it Indian
    toothbrush. I've lived long, and not poisoned.  Please don't pass on
    mis-information without checking. 

    Originally the Gaultheria was used commercially for oil of
    wintergreen.  We used up all the stock and turned to cutting down
    the beautiful Red Birch trees.  Now it is possibly made
    synthetically.  A great many things can poison a small child - hence
    all the childproof bottles and locks on cabinets.  It can also get
    into a windpipe going down.  But it is not inherently poisonous or
    toxic to handle, or use as lubricant on jewelry. 

    Here is a paragraph from Oct. 21, '03. And I'd personally urge
    everyone to save a beautiful native tree and use olive oil.    

    Yes, Tas, that plant has several names : (Gaultheria Procumbens) aka
    Periwinkle, Spice Berry, Deerberry, Teaberry, as well as
    Checkerberry.  Common in woods and clearings from eastern Canada
    southward to the Gulf states, thriving only in partial shade.  It is
    diuretic and believed by some to have a peculiarly beneficial action
    in indicated condition. Small doses stimulate the stomach, large
    doses have the opposite effect and cause vomiting.  It is an old
    time remedy.  

    Dose:  A teaspoonful of the plant, cut small or granulated, to a cup
    of boiling water. Drink cold, one cupful during the day, a large
    mouthful at a time; of the tincture, 5 to 20 min. Thus sayeth The
    Herbalist. 

    That birch tree I mentioned earlier also produces oil of
    wintergreen. As you can see, the stuff may smell and feel fierce in
    the undiluted form, but is not poisonous. 

Pat 

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