"Do You Have a Witch Hazel Tree in Your Yard or Woods?©" By Arlene Wright-Correll As I deal with the gardens in my old age, I still feel the need to have something different or better still, I feel it is important to plant something that will outlast me. I came across a picture of some Witch Hazel blossoms the other day and it started me thinking about it.
If you walk in the woods during the fall and winter, you may come across a small tree with fragrant yellow blossoms. Does this plant has its seasons mixed up and "thinks" its spring? Well, you have just come across a witch hazel, which is a small tree belonging to the plant family Hamamelidaceae and related to the sweet gum.
Further investigation taught me that witch hazels are not a large family, and perhaps this is one of the reasons for their remarkable under use in our landscapes.
Native to North America and parts of Asia, the first member to come to prominence in the garden was the American variety Hamamelis virginiana, discovered growing wild in Eastern woodlands early in the 1700s.
Brought to England in 1736, it was immediately prized, not for its flowers, which are rather small, but for its season of bloom -- it is the very last plant to flower in the garden, often opening into December -- hence its nickname "Epiphany Tree." Native Americans, on the other hand, had long valued the shrub for additional reasons: They were the first to understand that the inner bark had astringent qualities and used witch hazel as an effective cure for various inflammations of the skin and eyes. Witch hazel remains an ingredient in many commercial cosmetic preparations today.
Illinois has one native species of witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, which grows in colonies in the under story of dry or moist woods. The plant seldom reaches more then 10 feet tall and can be identified by its scallop-margined leaves that turn brilliant yellow in the fall and are arranged alternatively on zigzagging branches. This allows each leaf maximum exposure to the sun filtering through its shady domain. The plant's blossoms appear after the leaves have fallen, forming yellow clusters along the branches. The flowers have four long strap-like petals, each an inch to an inch and a half long. These petals have the unique ability to curl up in a bud when the temperatures drop and unfurl in the warming sun. This adaptation protects the nectar and pollen for warmer days when insects will venture out again. Witch hazel flowers are followed by a hard, two-chambered seed capsule that ripens a year later.
Witch hazel is a plant with many common names, each related to a unique aspect of the plant. The generic name, Hamamelis, means "together with fruit," and refers to the fact that witch hazel is the only tree in the North American woods to have ripe fruit, flowers, and next year's leaf buds all on the branch at the same time. The name "snapping hazel" comes from the seedpods. As they dry and shrink, they will explode with an audible pop to scatter the seeds up to 30 feet from the parent. This mechanism for seed dispersal helps to eliminate overcrowding and increases the likelihood that this year's crop will have room to grow. The name Hamamelis was adopted from a Greek word to indicate its resemblance to an apple-tree.
The tree has also been called water-witch. The word witch comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "to bend." The forked springy branches of witch hazel were used by early settlers, and later dowsers, as divining rods to search and detect underground water and minerals.
Native Americans showed the pioneer how to make extracts for use as eye washes, liniment, and to stop bleeding. Modern uses include an astringent made from the tannin-rich bark, twigs, and leaves to be used on insect bites, stings, sunburn, and as a soothing after-shave lotion. In the past, even the army has used branches of witch hazel for camouflage purposes.
The next time you take a walk in the woods watch out the witch hazel's yellow blossoms and popping seedpods as they bring a bit of a reprieve during those gray days of fall and winter.
It is synonymous with the Spotted Alder, Winterbloom, and Snapping Hazelnut. The bark, dried leaves, fresh and dried are used and the Eastern United States and Canada is where it can be found. They also grow in Britain.
This shrub, long known in cultivation, consists of several crooked branching trunks from one root, 4 to 6 inches in diameter, 10 to 12 feet in height, with a smooth grey bark, leaves 3 to 5 inches long and about 3 inches wide, on short petioles, alternate, oval shaped. The leaves drop off in autumn, and then the yellow flowers appear, very late in September and in October, in clusters from the joints, followed by black nuts, containing white seeds which are oily and edible. In Britain, the nut does not bear seeds, but in America, they are produced abundantly, but often do not ripen till the following summer. The seeds are ejected violently when ripe, hence the name Snapping Hazelnut. The alternative name "Snapping Hazel" hints at another: the tree ejects its seeds explosively into the air, insuring widespread propagation without overcrowding. And because it blossoms bright yellow in the darkening days of fall and winter, witch hazel is also called "Winterbloom."
The leaves are inodorous, with an astringent and bitter aromatic taste. Leaves are simple, alternate, deciduous, and asymmetrical with an unequal base, wavy margin and hair on the underside. Of the leaves (official in the United States Pharmacopoeia), tannic and Gallic acids, an unknown bitter principle and some volatile oil.
The twigs are flexible and rough, color externally, yellowish-brown to purple, wood greenly white, pith small. The bark as found in commerce is usually in quilted pieces 1/16 inch thick, 2 to 8 inches long, with silvery grey, scaly cork longitudinally striated fracture fibrous and laminated taste and odor slight. Young twigs are hairy and buds are hairy and naked (without visible scales). Bark is light brown-gray and fairly smooth with lenticels. The flowers are yellow or reddish, thread-like, and bloom in autumn. The fruit is a woody capsule that ejects seeds in the winter. Witch-hazel is found in the under story of moist upland sites in the eastern U.S. and is tolerant of shade. Witch-hazel astringent is made from the inner bark. The fruit is eaten by birds and squirrels. So here is another fine reason for planting one or two on your property.
The bark contains tannin, partly amorphous and partly crystal, Gallic acid, a physterol, resin, fat and other bitter and odorous bodies. There are many medicinal uses for this plant. The properties of the leaves and bark are similar, astringent, tonic, sedative, and valuable in checking internal and external hemorrhage, most efficacious in the treatment of piles, a good pain-killer for the same, useful for bruises and inflammatory swellings, also for diarrhea, dysentery and mucous discharges.
It has long been used by the North American Indians as poultices for painful swellings and tumors.
A tea made of the leaves or bark may be taken freely with advantage, being good for bleeding of the stomach and in complaints of the bowels, and an injection of this tea is excellent for inwardly bleeding piles, the relief being marvelous and the cure speedy. An ointment made of 1 part fluid extract of bark to 9 parts simple ointment is also used as a local application, the concentration Hamamelin being also employed, mainly in the form of suppositories.
Witch Hazel has been supposed to owe its utility to an action on the muscular fiber of veins. The distilled extract from the fresh leaves and young twigs forms an excellent remedy for internal or external uses, being beneficial for bleeding from the lungs and nose, as well as from other internal organs. In the treatment of varicose veins, it should be applied on a lint bandage, which must be constantly kept moist: a pad of Witch Hazel applied to a burst varicose vein will stop the bleeding and often save life by its instant application.
Witch Hazel was much used in our grandmother's days as a general household remedy for burns, scalds, and inflammatory conditions of the skin generally and it is still in general use. I find it has an immediate affect on piles. Here is some other information I discovered for its uses. Remember to check with your doctor first.
In cases of bites of insects and mosquitoes a pad of cotton-wool, moistened with the extract and applied to the spot will soon cause the pain and swelling to subside.
Diluted with warm water, the extract is used for inflammation of the eyelids.
Liquor Hamamelidis, 1/2 to 3 drachms (a distillate of the fresh leaves). Used also with equal parts of glycerin as injection for piles.
Liquid extract, 5 to 15 minims (preparation of the dried leaves made with alcohol) externally for varicose veins. Injection for piles, 2 to 5 minims.
Hamamelin, 1/2 to 2 grains, in pill (powdered extractive from the bark). 1 to 3 grains with cacao butter is useful for piles.
Tincture (from the bark), 30 to 60 minims. 1 drachma in 3 OZ. cold water given as enema for piles. Lotion of 1 or 2 drachms with water to an ounce useful for bruises.
Ointment: employed externally for piles.
Witch Hazel trees will easily grow in zones 4 to 8 in any kind of widely adaptable soil. They can be bought from most local and on line nurseries. Their prices usually start around $16.00 for small trees or plants. Their growth is slow, so should you get a small plant, you may have to nurture it though a bigger potting session before you put it where you finally want it. It grows in both full sun and full shade and it deals with widely adaptable moisture. As I said their growth is slow, and in fact remains slow throughout the life of the tree in its typical shady habitat. As individuals, witch-hazel probably does not live more than 100 years, but they reproduce from root sprouts, and clones may live for a very long time.
Maybe I’ll order a couple for posterity!
“Tread the Earth Lightly" and in the meantime… may your day be filled with….Peace, light and love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
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About the author,
Arlene Wright-Correll is mother of 5 and the grandmother of 8. For almost 40 years she was an International real estate consultant and during the last 20 years of her career traveled to many parts of the world. She has been a cancer and stroke survivor since 1992. While working and raising her children she had many hobbies including being a very serious home-vintner for approximately 14 years while residing in upstate New York in St. Lawrence County producing 2,000 to 3,000 bottles of wine a year. She was the president of the St. Lawrence County chapter of the American Wine Society in Potsdam, NY. During that time she wrote a Home Vintner column for the Courier Freeman and the Canton Plain Dealer. In 1975 her hearty burgundy won first place at the annual American Wine Society meeting in Toledo, Ohio. This home vintner created many formulas or recipes for not only still wine, but sparkling wine and beer. She enjoyed the friendship and fellowship that was created by working with other home vintners during those years. She is an avid gardener, an artist, and a free lance writer of many topics including but not limited to her popular, “The ABC’s of Making Wine and Beer©" by Arlene Wright-Correll
This jam packed information CD includes 15 chapters on how to make your own wine and beer. Loads of tried and true recipes, easy instructions, equipment identifying photos.
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