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Shinleaf

Scientific Names


• Pyrola elliptica L.
• Heath family

Common Names

Wild Lily-of-the-Valley
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Parts Usually Used

Leaves
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Shinleaf is a perennial, evergreen herb, 5-10 inches high; a slender, branching rootstock produces a set of basal, dark green, ovate to elliptical leaves with margined petioles and shallow-toothed edges. The naked flower stalk bears from 7-15 white, waxy, drooping, greenish-white flowers, which smell like lily-of-the-valley and bloom from June to August.
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Where Found

Grows in dry to rich woods in Canada and in the northern and Rocky Mountain states of the United States. Maryland, West Virginia; Nebraska and across Canada to Alaska.
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Medicinal Properties

Astringent
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Legends, Myths and Stories

Webster’s Dictionary claims this herb belongs to the Heath family; some references claim it for the Wintergreen family, who knows.
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Uses

Has a mild astringent property and can be used as a mouthwash, gargle, and vaginal douche. The leaves make a good poultice for insect bites, bruises, and other skin problems. Native Americans used the tea of the whole plant to treat epileptic seizures in babies; leaf tea gargled for sore throat, canker sores; poulticed leaves for tumors, sores, wounds, ulcers, and cuts; root tea as a tonic.
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Bibliography

American Folk Medicine, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973

Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000

The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Indian Herbalogy of North America, by Alma R. Hutchens, Shambala Publications, Inc., Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973

Planetary Herbology, by Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., O.M.D., Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. WI 53181., Copyright 1988, published 1992

Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023, 1984

The Rodale Herb Book, edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. Emmaus, PA, 18049., 1974

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