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WITCH
HAZEL
(Hamamelis virginiana)
snapping hazelnut
Description:
Crooked deciduous shrub, 8-15 ft. Forking branches, scaly gray
to brown bark. Leaves, alternate, elliptic to obovate, coarsely
toothed, hairy on the veins underneath. Yellow flowers, axillary
clusters, thin, slender petals bloom in autumn when leaves fall.
Fruit, a woody capsule, ejects 2 seeds, about 13 ft. away, as
ripens the next summer. Eastern U.S. in damp woods
MEDICINAL:
Leaf decoction or distillation, bark and flower-bearing twigs
used for disinfectant and astringent preparations. Helps in diarrhea,
internal bleeding, excessive menstruation, insect bites, minor
burns, Poison Ivy, a mouth wash for bleeding gums. Tincture of
Witch Hazel, which is much more astringent, could disfigure the
skin where commercially distilled witch hazel will not.
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