The Witch Hazel tree provides the source of our popular astringent -- long a staple item in North America. Besides being a source for the lotion, this tree has been used for everything from water dowsing -- also know as "water witching" due to the use of witch hazel twigs -- to reducing bleeding after child birth. It's quite a great, hearty, and hardy small tree, a real native of North America. The extract of the leaves and bark is the most common medicinal use of the tree these days due to the healing and astringency properties.
A good description is available online.
Although it can grow to over 20 feet, the growth of the American Witch Hazel is fairly slow and it actually grows outward -- more like a shrub than a tree. It has the unique ability to flower in the winter, my witch hazels usually flower in mid-January, after all the leaves have fallen, and provide a colorful and aromatic flowering when everything else is in deep hibernation, in the dead of winter.
I've never tried to make the extract, but the subtle sweetness of the flowers reminds me of my favorite lotion in the medicine cabinet. I present a few photos of one of my trees and flowers, on a very wet but not snowy day at the end of the foliage season.
A good description is available online.
Although it can grow to over 20 feet, the growth of the American Witch Hazel is fairly slow and it actually grows outward -- more like a shrub than a tree. It has the unique ability to flower in the winter, my witch hazels usually flower in mid-January, after all the leaves have fallen, and provide a colorful and aromatic flowering when everything else is in deep hibernation, in the dead of winter.
I've never tried to make the extract, but the subtle sweetness of the flowers reminds me of my favorite lotion in the medicine cabinet. I present a few photos of one of my trees and flowers, on a very wet but not snowy day at the end of the foliage season.
