{"id":649,"date":"2015-10-22T20:57:07","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T00:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/?p=649"},"modified":"2020-07-20T14:42:29","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T18:42:29","slug":"witch-hazel-october-wildflower-of-the-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2015\/10\/22\/witch-hazel-october-wildflower-of-the-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Witch Hazel &#8211; October Wildflower of the Month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2015\/10\/Witch-Hazel.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-650 alignleft lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2015\/10\/Witch-Hazel-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Witch Hazel\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2015\/10\/Witch-Hazel-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2015\/10\/Witch-Hazel.jpg 800w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Hamamelis virginiana. Usually grown for its flowers, this low-branching shrub or small tree can furnish year-round interest. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The plant is in bloom from late fall and into winter, October through December. Fragrant bright yellow flowers, each with four crinkly, ribbon-shaped petals, grow in clusters close to the stem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Broad, slightly pointed dark green leaves cover the branches throughout the summer, turning a brilliant gold in the fall.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In late summer the leaves often show small triangular growths, created by the witch hazel cone gall aphid.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Although their presence on leaves suggests some type of disturbance, galls usually do not harm their hosts. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In late winter the flowers are replaced by greenish dry fruits (capsules) that become woody with age, maturing to light brown.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>These seed capsules mature in two years, splitting open the following fall to release black seeds over some distance. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Witch Hazel likes rich, acid soil and moist to dry drainage in full sun to part shade. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Easy to grow in the home landscape, this 15-20-foot shrub can be grown as a hedge, foundation planting, and in a rain garden.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\">There are only 5 species worldwide of <i>Hamamelis,<\/i> 3 native to North America, one in Japan, and one in China. <i>H. virginiana<\/i> is common in the mountains and Piedmont of Virginia, infrequent naturally in the Coastal Plain and throughout eastern U.S. and Canada.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This rootstock of this species is often used when grafting cultivars of Asian origin. The Chinese Witch Hazel (<i>H. mollis<\/i>) is widely sold noted for its larger yellow flowers and stronger fragrance.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Other cultivars are available in the nursery trade; many are hybrids between the two Asian species and\/or Ozark Witch Hazel (<i>H. vernalis).<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A widely used medicinal herb, the North American Indians used Witch Hazel bark to heal wounds, treat tumours and for eye problems.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The bark is astringent and hemostatic; a homeopathic remedy is made from fresh bark and used to treat nosebleeds, hemorrhoids and varicose veins.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The bottled Witch Hazel is a steam distillate, used as an external application to bruises, sore muscles, and inflammations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Seeds are eaten by ruffed grouse and squirrels.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Witch Hazel is pollinated by winter moths that fly when temperatures are above freezing.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Leaf litter protects the moths during cold nights.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">By Helen Hamilton, past-president of the John Clayton Chapter, VNPS<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Photo: <\/b>American Beauty-berry (<em>Hamamelis virginiana<\/em>) taken by Helen Hamilton<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hamamelis virginiana. Usually grown for its flowers, this low-branching shrub or small tree can furnish year-round interest. The plant is in bloom from late fall and into winter, October through December. Fragrant bright yellow flowers, each with four crinkly, ribbon-shaped petals, grow in clusters close to the stem.\u00a0 Broad, slightly pointed dark green leaves cover&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18603,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Witch Hazel - October Wildflower of the Month - John Clayton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2015\/10\/22\/witch-hazel-october-wildflower-of-the-month\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Witch Hazel - October Wildflower of the Month - John Clayton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hamamelis virginiana. Usually grown for its flowers, this low-branching shrub or small tree can furnish year-round interest. The plant is in bloom from late fall and into winter, October through December. Fragrant bright yellow flowers, each with four crinkly, ribbon-shaped petals, grow in clusters close to the stem.\u00a0 Broad, slightly pointed dark green leaves cover&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2015\/10\/22\/witch-hazel-october-wildflower-of-the-month\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Clayton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-23T00:57:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-20T18:42:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2015\/10\/Witch-Hazel-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"VNPS Communications\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"VNPS Communications\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2015\/10\/22\/witch-hazel-october-wildflower-of-the-month\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2015\/10\/22\/witch-hazel-october-wildflower-of-the-month\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"VNPS Communications\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/#\/schema\/person\/f733fd3e3626409fd4a4aadfa0810283\"},\"headline\":\"Witch Hazel &#8211; 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