Hamamelis virginiana

Witch Hazel

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Family: Hamamelidaceae (Witch Hazel family)

Mid-Atlantic bloom time: October - December
Mid-Atlantic fruit ripe: October - November (of the following year)

Witch Hazel is an understory shrub that seems to be the last one to bloom in the forest, with its yellow flowers standing out clearly against all the dead leaves. The blossoms have a beautiful faint slightly sweet scent and are pollinated by a moth.

The leaves of Witch Hazel are often used by Witch-hazel cone gall aphids (Hormaphis hamamelidis or H. cornu) as a soruce of food and shelter. It causes the leaf to form a gall, which is light green at first then turns to red.

Witch Hazel has a number of medicinal uses, best known of which is an extract used as an astringent. Forked twigs have also been used traditionally as divining rods.

11 November 2013 Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park, VA	16 May 2023 Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, Centreville, VA (one leaf has cone gall)	16 May 2023 Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, Centreville, VA	16 May 2023 Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, Centreville, VA
25 October 2014 Eleanor C. Lawrence Park, Centreville, VA (autumn leaves)	11 November 2013 Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park, VA	17 November 2017 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA	21 October 2022 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA
21 October 2022 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA	21 October 2022 Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, Haymarket, VA	16 May 2023 Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, Centreville, VA (with recently formed cone gall)	16 May 2023 Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, Centreville, VA (with mature cone gall)

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