Spotted Wintergreen is one of those eye-catching plants that I wind up pointing out on just about every walk that I lead. For starters, it's evergreen, so people are as likely to spot it in the winter as in the summer, and it's hard to miss in any season, because the leaves are actually striped, with a light-green, thick center-line running between dark-green sides. Chimaphila maculata may bear the common name of "wintergreen," but it's not a particular close relative of the aromatic plant, Gaultheria procumbens, that also bears that non-scientific designation. In fact, the leaves don't look even remotely similar—G. procumbens has round, non-striped leaves that smell like the namesake confection—and when it comes to flowers, both of them July bloomers, there's no confusing the two. Those of GP are dainty bells while C. maculata puts forth the waxy mini-magnificence now being displayed along the edges of the woods. The "wintergreen" name, it turns out, is an old-fashioned term for "evergreen." Best you learn the Latin names and avoid any misnomers.