Chuck Tague

    When October winds blow cold and the twisted skeletons of leafless trees dance in the mist, it’s witching time in western Pennsylvania.  It is then, and only then, that the mysterious witches of the forest comes to life.

    Witch Hazel is a wide, sprawling shrub that thrives on shaded, wooded slopes and in dark ravines.  During most of the year this inconspicuous woodland witch blends into the forest understory.  It is only as Halloween approaches that Witch Hazel blooms.

    Witch Hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, is the last plant to flower in the fall.  Its flowers pop out near the first frost, as most other trees and shrubs become dormant.  You must look close, however.  The witch’s blossoms are easily overlooked.  Witch Hazel flowers have flat, stringy petals about as long as a witch’s eyelash.  If you wiggle a Witch Hazel branch the flowers dance like a chorus line of leggy yellow spiders.  The petals remain on the twigs until December.  The function of these flowers, like all colorful flowers, is to attract an insect or some other animal pollinator. 

    Few insects fly around in the frosty autumn forest where the night air is as cold as a witch’s heart.  Witch Hazel flowers are at the mercy of nocturnal moths and fungus gnats that are hardy enough to fly in near-freezing temperatures.

    When you find Witch Hazel examine the few remaining leaves.  On a leaf you will often see a small cone that resembles a miniature witch’s hat.  This is a Witch Hazel Cone Gall; the temporary home of a Witch Hazel Cone Gall aphid, Hormaphis hamamelidis.

    H. hamamelidis has a life as bizarre as the mythical hags that transformed themselves into frightening creatures to torment medieval travelers.  In late fall female aphids lay eggs on Witch Hazel branches.  In spring only female aphids, the “stem mothers”, emerge.  These strange sisters produce a secretion that causes a wart-like malformation to form on the leaf.  These growths are cone-shaped and hollow with an opening on the leaf’s undersurface.  The aphid mothers then deposit fertile eggs in the cone.  These fertile eggs are produced parthenogenically, without a mate.

When the next generation of aphids are mature they emerge from the cone and fly to a birch tree.  On the birch they live as flightless insects and reproduce sexually for several generations.  The sixth generation hatches with wings and flies back to the Witch Hazel to reproduce.  Another generation of stem mothers hatches on the Witch Hazel and the extraordinary cycle begins again.

    As you examine Witch Hazel look for fuzz-covered woody capsules.  These look like small leather pouches, just big enough to hold the eye of a newt.  Inside are Witch Hazel seeds.  These seeds take over a year to mature.  When Witch Hazel flowers are in bloom the seeds from the previous year’s flowers are only then ready to disperse.

    Witch Hazel seed capsules are as explosive as a witch’s temper.  When the seeds are ripe the capsules burst and scatter the seeds far from the parent plant.

    Henry David Thoreau wrote about this strange phenomenon in Faith in a Seed.  He collected several Witch Hazel capsules and left them on his desk.  Three days later, around midnight, some loud snapping sounds interrupted his sleep.  The next morning he discovered the sounds came from the capsules which had split and shot the seeds across the room.  The explosions continued for several more days.

    People will undoubtedly attribute magical properties to any plant as mysterious as Witch Hazel.  Various parts of these shrubs have long been harvested and used in the preparation of a potion, Witch Hazel extract.  However, the most potent magic attributed to Witch Hazel is its legendary power as a divining rod.  A water witch was a man who could locate hidden sources of water.  The water witch would cut a forked limb of Witch Hazel.

He always chose one that grew north to south.  He would hold one forked end in each hand with the point facing forward.  As the water witch walked around, the divining rod would tug downward when it passed over water.  A Witch Hazel divining rod supposedly worked just as well on silver and gold.

    The colorful leaves will soon fade and fall but there will still be beauty and magic in the forest.  Before the first heavy snow -- pay a visit to Witch Hazel, the mysterious witch of our forest floor.