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Witch Hazel From the Woodlands to the Medicine Cabinet

Posted by wilde on November 14th, 2008 — Posted in Vegetable

Witch Hazel is one of my favorite trees. It has really unique blossoms and fruit, a pretty structure to its limbs, and it can be used medicinally. Due to it’s short stature some will refer to Witch Hazel as a shrub.

Witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, is a small understory tree that reaches 15 to 20 feet tall. Its branches spread out in a zig-zag manner so the limbs appear crooked. Several trunks are usually present, so each trunk is at most a few inches across.

In Autumn Witch Hazel is the last tree to bloom in North America. In the middle of October you can find it blooming in Central Pennsylvania.

Witch Hazel’s spider-like yellow flowers have four thin, ribbon-like, inch-long petals and usually occur in groups of three.

Witch Hazel flowers with long, thin, yellow petals. Photos taken 19OCT08.

The fruit is a woody capsule that contains seeds. A young fruit starts out green and then turns brown as it matures. When ripe, the fruit capsule splits open at the top and two shiny black seeds are ejected some distance from the tree. Empty capsules may persist on the small branches for years.

Woody fruit capsules from a prior year.

Leaves are alternate and oval-shaped with a characteristic unevenness at the base. Leaf edges are scalloped and not exactly toothed.

Witch Hazel leaf shape is oval with scalloped edges.

I didn’t know what witch hazel was when I saw it in the drug store for the first time. Right next to the rubbing alcohol there was a bottle of another clear liquid who’s label promised it was an astringent. Witch hazel was slightly more expensive than the familiar alcohol, so I purchased the latter. We always had rubbing alcohol in the bathroom cupboard for cleaning and sterilizing whatever was needed to be clean and sterile.

Witch Hazel has been used medicinally for a long time, especially in the treatment of skin sores, acne, insect bites, and hemorrhoids. Medicinal use takes advantage of antioxidant, astringent, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties.

Witch hazel is used in poultice form when the leaves and bark are available, otherwise extracts or hydrosols are available in over-the-counter preparations.

Tea can be made from the leaves and bark and taken internally to stop internal bleeding. Since it does have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, I wonder if Witch Hazel tea can be used effectively by those suffering from Metabolic Syndrome X?

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Small Whorled Pogonia Hiding Among the Sassafras Leaves

Posted by wilde on November 12th, 2008 — Posted in Vegetable

The more time one spends outside observing the wilde things around oneself, the more one can learn about their environment. And themselves. A curious mind will travel to many places during a simple walk outdoors, won’t it?

Some people find solace in nature – a closer walk with their thoughts and beliefs. Some find excitement in the wonder of how it all works together and of the beauty of it all.

A couple weeks ago I found a new colony of Small Whorled Pogonia. Near some colorful Sassafras that I was appreciating and photographing, I saw the whorl of leaves of first one, then another and another. I was excited as here was yet another small grouping of a plant that is endangered with extinction.

Clearing of the forests for wood and wood products is the primary cause of the loss of pogonias, at least here in Pennsylvania. Clearing of woodlands for pasture and farmland took its toll on all members of the orchid family that are found in these woods. It’s plain and simple – without the forest habitat the orchids will not survive.

I presume there is some association between the orchids and fungi that is intimately associated with the trees of the mixed hardwood forest. Without that ‘something special’ found in the woods where the pogonias naturally occur, they just won’t grow.

Whether it’s really the Small Whorled Pogonia, Isotria medeoloides, or the more common Whorled Pogonia, I. verticillata, isn’t clear until the little guys can be observed flowering.

In the fall foliage it was easy to spot the pogonias – at least after I noticed the first one. Little cartwheels of faded, brown straw-colored leaves were found hiding among the more colorful Sassafras leaves.

A yellow pogonia hiding among the more colorful Sassafras. Photos taken 16OCT08.

Whorled Pogonia in the Autumn.

Seven pogonia plants were counted near the base of a Northern Red Oak tree. That makes three separate pogonia colonies in the woods that edge our front and back yards.

Five Small Whorled Pogonias are marked with red rings. The left-most ring contains two pogonias.

I’ll visit each area next year to see how many plants come up and monitor them to see if any bloom.

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