■ noun
1》 a low-growing plant of acid soils, with spikes of white bell-shaped flowers. [ Pyrola and other genera.]
2》 the checkerberry or a related American shrub whose leaves produce oil.
3》 (also oil of ~ ) a pungent oil obtained from these plants or from the bark of a birch ( Betula lenta ), used medicinally and as a flavouring.
Origin
C16: the plants so named because they remain green in winter.