I went out to a graveyard again. I seem to have a fascination with them. It’s not a preoccupation with death, but more a preoccupation with life. I go to the graveyard to achieve balance and remain humble and realistic. Yes, I talk to the graves, but no one ever comes to the old Topsham Cemetery anyway. It stopped accepting new members about 60 years ago, although most of the residents are from the 1700s and 1800s. They don’t seem to mind when I tell them about my life. In fact, I rather flatter myself that they enjoy hearing about the ups and downs of an average life.
But this story is not about my life or about the
cemetery. Today as I was walking through
this cemetery and the death of the vegetation was clashing dramatically with
the death of the graves, I looked down and noticed riotous bright red spots
everywhere. These spots were scattered
heavily among the moss and lichen and heather, which seem to grow in
considerable abundance in graveyards, winter notwithstanding.
After a fleeting gruesome thought, I realized I was looking at
wintergreen berries, also known as checkerberries. Yes, this is the original source of
wintergreen oil flavoring, although nowadays it is made synthetically.
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| Wintergreen berries. |
You can make a nice-tasting tea from the berries and/or
leaves of wintergreen, and it really will give you that robust mint-like
flavor. You can also munch on a leaf or
two as you walk, although you shouldn’t swallow it. It can be a great help when you’re hiking a
long distance. The active ingredient in
wintergreen oil is methyl salicylate, a compound that is similar to
aspirin. Long ago, people would make a
tea with the leaves and berries and steep them for several days until they
began to ferment a bit. In this way, the
aspirin-like qualities were drawn out of the plant, and the tea was used for
sore muscles, headaches, or general pain.
Distilled wintergreen oil is very toxic and should not be
consumed in large quantities. Just one
ounce is equivalent to about 170 aspirin tablets, enough to kill an adult. It can be used topically (diluted with other
oils to form a liniment) as a rub for arthritis, tendinitis, sciatica, sprains,
inflammation, eczema, and psoriasis, among other uses.
Look for the tiny red berries on the ground. The plant itself creeps along the ground and
doesn’t grow higher than about six inches, if that. Sometimes the leaves take on a reddish hue in
the late fall, but this is an evergreen plant so it will keep its leaves. It is a very slow-growing plant, so if you
find it, don’t harvest all of it. Leave
some to continue growing. You don’t have
to go to a graveyard, of course, when searching for wintergreen, although if
you do, you may decide that you were intentionally led to find this plant,
study it, and use it. That’s what
happened to me, and I trust the grounding advice I get from the graveyard.
(Yes, I have to put a disclaimer in. This article is
for informational purposes only and is not meant to diagnose, treat, or cure
any ailment. If you need medical advice, seek a physician.)
