Pipsissewa
chimaphila umbellata (LINN.)
Ericaceae



AKA
pyrola umbellata
Winter Green
Butter Winter
Prince's Pine
King's Cure
Ground Holly
Love in Winter
Rheumatism Weed

Parts Used
Dried leaves only are official,
though the whole plant, including root, is used.

Habitat
Europe, Asia, Siberia, America, and found
in all parts of the United States.

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Description
The name Chimaphila is derived from two Greek words
meaning 'winter' and 'to love.'
There are two varieties of this plant,
chimaphila umbellata and chimaphila maculata.

The former alone is the official plant, a small evergreen perennial
with a creeping yellow rhizome, which has several creeping,
erect or semi-procumbent stems, angular, marked with the scars
of former leaves, and woody at the base.
These are 4 to 8 inches high, with the leaves
on upper surface, shiny, coriaceous, dark green and underside paler.
Flowers corymbose, light purple color, corolla five cream-coloured petals,
fragrantly perfumed, purplish at base.
Capsule erect, depressed five-celled, five-valved, numerous seeds, linear, chaffy.
It flowers May till August; leaves when dried have only a slight odor,
but when fresh and rubbed are sweet-smelling;
taste astringently sweetish and not disagreeably bitter.

Constituents
Leaves contain various
crystalline constituents,
Chimaphilin, etc., arbutin gum,
resin, starch, pectic acid,
extractive fatty matter,
chlorophyll tannic acid,
sugar, potassa, lime, iron,
magnesia, chloride of sodium,
sulphuric phosphoric and silicic acids.

Medicinal Action and Use
alterative
astringent
diuretic
tonic

The fresh leaves, when bruised and applied to the skin,
act as vesicants and rubefacients, of great use
in cardiac and kidney diseases, chronic rheumatism and scrofula.
The decoction is advantageous for chronic gonorrhoea,
strangury, catarrh of the bladder, and a good cure for ascites.
It is said to diminish lithic acid in the urine;
for dropsy it is useful combined with other medicines;
it is a substitute for uva-ursi and less obnoxious;
said to be of value in diabetes, but this has not yet
been confirmed; and it is very efficacious for skin diseases.

DOSAGE
Decoction, 1 to 4 fluid ounces three times daily.

Fluid extract,
B.P.C., 15 to 45 grains.
Fluid extract, B.P.C., 3 parts syrup to 1 part fluid extract.
Fluid extract, 1 to 45 grains.

Syrup
Macerate 4 OZ. finely bruised leaves in 8 fluid ounces of water;
let it stand 36 hours, strain till 1 pint of the fluid is obtained,
evaporate to 1/2 pint, add 3/4 lb. sugar; dose, 1 to 2 tablespoonsful.

Dose of Chimaphilin, 1 to 5 grains.
This is very valuable for scrofulous complaints, hence its name, 'King's Cure';
used externally in the form of a decoction to unhealthy scrofulous sores.

Chimaphila maculata, or Spotted Wintergreen, is very similar,
but the leaves are a deep olive green color with greenish-white veins.
When fresh and bruised they have a peculiar odor,
which is lost on drying; taste pleasantly bitter, astringent and sweetish.
A solution of perchloride of iron makes the infusion green color.
Leaves only are official, but all parts of the plant
have active properties, and stem and leaves are often used together.
The stem and root have a pungent taste and combine bitterness and astringency.

Medicinal Properties diuretic with an antiseptic influence on the urine,
occasionally prescribed for cystitis.
The best preparation is the fluid extract.


See:
PYROLA
WINTERGREEN
Lady Aquarius 1962's Cauldron
~Aquarius~ 10/6/2002