The plant is a calcifuge, favoring acidic soil, in pine or hardwood forests, although it generally produces fruit only in sunnier areas.

The leaves and branches make a fine herbal tea, through normal drying and infusion process.

Other animals that eat wintergreen are wild turkey, sharp-tailed grouse, northern bobwhite, ring-necked pheasant, black bear, white-footed mouse, and red fox.

[9][17] While this plant is sometimes mistakenly known as partridge berry,[18] that name more often refers to the ground cover Mitchella repens.

The Delaware, Mohicans, and several other tribes made a tea from wintergreen leaves to treat kidney disorders.

The Great Lakes and Eastern Woodlands tribes used a wintergreen poultice as a topical treatment for arthritic pain.