Witch Hazel, Health Center 3, 43rd St. & Chester Ave.

A native shrub associated with magic and divinity and yet the name witch hazel is not a reference to a broom-wielding hag but originates from the Middle English word wiche, defined as “pliant” and “bendable,” and applied to this plant because of its crooked, zigzag branching pattern. These forked branches were used as divining rods in the ancient trade of dowsing. Clenched within the dowser’s grip, the witch hazel branch would dip or twitch the nearer it got to subterranean water, minerals, gems, oil, and other underground treasures.

According to tradition, witch hazel has healing qualities, in an over-the-counter medicine kind of way. Salves and ointments were made from boiling or distilling its twigs and bark. Native Americans and colonial apothecaries used the ointments to relieve rashes, bug bites, inflammation, poison ivy, and other complaints.

Which is why my favorite witch hazels are the ones growing in the garden in front of Health Center 3, at 43rd Street and Chester Avenue. This is a garden dedicated to shrubs and flowers known for their healing and medicinal qualities. These witch hazels grow next to St. John’s wort, echinacea, yarrow, and other native plants that are used in balms, panaceas, unguents, medicines, and other wonder drugs.

The photos below were taken during its bloom. Witch hazel is one of the very few native plants that flower in the middle of winter, why it’s sometimes called winterbloom.

Note that last winter’s seed pods are embedded within the spidery flowers. Those pods are probably the most remarkable aspect of an already most remarkable creature. They burst open, very loudly, in late summer or early fall, in such explosive fashion that the seeds have been found up to a 30-feet distance away from the tree, a phenomenon that only the very lucky, the very holy, or the very wicked get to witness.

Feb. 2024