By Wes Porter ——Bio and Archives--October 8, 2019
Lifestyles | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
Not to keep you in suspense – neither. Wych is an Old English alternative for wicce, or witch. This is turn derives from wicca, a wizard. Confusingly, Witch Hazel, botanically Hamamelia, is from Old English wice, pliant or bendable. Switches were used for divining for underground sources of water, possibly minerals as was Hazel, Corylus.
Yet the natural habitat Hamamelis of the half-dozen or so species are far from Britain, Europe or western Asia. They are natives to the Orient and North America, bearing unusual from late fall to early spring scented yellow, orange or red blooms.
The best-known is probably Virginia Witch Hazel Hamamelis virginiana, although not for its ornamental attributes. It is a large shrub or small tree, 10 to 15 feet in height. It bears yellow blooms late fall and even early winter after the equally coloured foliage has fallen. Found from southern Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia to Florida and Texas, west to Minnesota, it was first introduced into English gardens by botanist and keen gardener Peter Collinson (1694-1768). Today it is often a subject of wild or woodland gardens, and larger native plant gardens. Chinese Witch Hazel, H. mollis, is probably more common in cultivation today.
H. virginiana is the source of medicinal witch hazel. It is a rare drug store that does not carry bottles of the preparation for non-prescription purchase. Yet the use goes back millennia to Native American tribes of eastern North America. They drank a tea made from the leaves for colds and sore throats. A twig tea was massaged onto legs to relieve lameness.
Early Puritan settlers eagerly accepted witch hazel for a wide range of maladies. The tea was drunk for bloody dysentery, cholera, old and asthma; the bark tea was swallowed down for lung afflictions or used externally for bruising and aching muscles. By the 1840s, it was being commercially manufactured.
Witch hazel today is accepted in the U.S. for topical use. Taken internally it may prove toxic. Tannins in the leaves and bark are believed to be responsible for its astringent qualities. As a liquid or ointment, it is used to relieve hemorrhoids, skin irritations, itching even as an after-shave. Bottled witch hazel water, common on pharmacy shelves, is a steam distillate which does not contain the astringent tannins of the shrub.
H. x intermedia hybrid of garden origin a cross of H. japonica and H. mollis and usually selected over either of its parents as an ornamental. As with so many hybrids, it is taller than 15-20 feet, a very showy choice for late winter although the flowers are only slightly fragrant. However, the fall foliage is and attractive yellow to orange. Nursery stock is usually grafted and for milder areas, there varieties with red flowers such as ‘Jelena,’ ‘Diane’ and ‘Livia.’
The parents of H. x intermedia are both of oriental origin. Japanese Witch Hazel, H. japonica, is a suckering, shrub or small tree, bearing pale yellow flowers in spring suitable for tall hedges. The fall foliage varies from yellow through red to purple. Chinese Witch Hazel, H. mollis, from western China is another shrub or small tree varying from 10 to 25 feet, flowering from flowers early winter to early spring. It was first collected by the plant hunter Charlies Maries (1851-1902) in Jiujiang in 1879 for Veitch Nurseries, but not introduced into cultivation until 1902. It is probably now more common in gardens than H. virginiana.
There are few other Hamamelis known, all North Americans. However, H. mexicana is an unresolved name, in other words, unaccepted by almost all botanists but recorded in some lists. H. vernalis Vernal or Ozarkan Witch Hazel is an erect shrub to 10 feet from southeast North America, flowering in winter on warm days. It is not common in cultivation.
Every year, dozens of new botanical discoveries are made, usually from remote and exotic regions. Early in this century a sharp-eyed botanist announced H. ovalis growing in the vicinity of a Mississippi military base. Bigleaf Witch Hazel is also known after its discoverer as Leonard’s Witch Hazel (Steve Leonard 2005). It appears to be endemic to southern Mississippi and southern Alabama, growing from one to four feet in dry pinelands. It bears red flowers from December through February. While critically imperiled in its native habitat, it has been successfully propagated and offered for sale by plant nurseries.
Support Canada Free Press
View Comments
Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.