polygala paucifolia

4 definitions found

polygala paucifolia - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  gay-wings \gay-wings\ n.
     A common trailing perennial milkwort (Polygala paucifolia)
     of eastern North America having leaves like wintergreen and
     usually rosy-purple flowers with winged sepals.
  
     Syn: flowering wintergreen, gaywings, bird-on-the-wing,
          fringed polygala, Polygala paucifolia.
          [WordNet 1.5]

  Wintergreen \Win"ter*green`\, n. (Bot.)
     A plant which keeps its leaves green through the winter.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: In England, the name wintergreen is applied to the
           species of Pyrola which in America are called
           English wintergreen, and shin leaf (see Shin leaf,
           under Shin.) In America, the name wintergreen is
           given to Gaultheria procumbens, a low evergreen
           aromatic plant with oval leaves clustered at the top of
           a short stem, and bearing small white flowers followed
           by red berries; -- called also checkerberry, and
           sometimes, though improperly, partridge berry.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     Chickweed wintergreen, a low perennial primulaceous herb
        (Trientalis Americana); -- also called star flower.
  
     Flowering wintergreen, a low plant (Polygala paucifolia)
        with leaves somewhat like those of the wintergreen
        (Gaultheria), and bearing a few showy, rose-purple
        blossoms.
  
     oil of wintergreen, An aromatic oil, consisting almost
        entirely of methyl salicylate (CH3CO.O.C6H4.OH),
        obtained by distillation of an extract of the wintergreen
        (Gaultheria procumbens); it can also be obtained from
        some other plants. It is used as a flavoring agent for
        tooth powders and pastes, sometimes combined with menthol
        or eucalyptus. It is called also oil of teaberry, oil  of partridgeberry
        , and oil of gaultheria.
  
     Spotted wintergreen, a low evergreen plant (Chimaphila  maculata
        ) with ovate, white-spotted leaves.
        [1913 Webster + PJC]

  bird-on-the-wing \bird-on-the-wing\ n.
     a common trailing perennial milkwort of eastern North America
     (Polygala paucifolia), having leaves like wintergreen and
     usually rosy-purple flowers with winged sepals.
  
     Syn: flowering wintergreen, gaywings, gay-wings, fringed
          polygala.
          [WordNet 1.5]

polygala paucifolia - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  Polygala paucifolia
      n 1: common trailing perennial milkwort of eastern North America
           having leaves like wintergreen and usually rosy-purple
           flowers with winged sepals [syn: flowering wintergreen,
           gaywings, bird-on-the-wing, fringed polygala,
           Polygala paucifolia]