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Home  /  Plants  /  Budburst Species  /  Hamamelis virginiana
Phenology Observation Sheet for Deciduous Trees and Shrubs

COMMON NAME

American witchhazel

SCIENTIFIC NAME

Hamamelis virginiana

ALSO KNOWN AS

Common witch-hazel

Plant family

Witch-hazel (Hamamelidaceae)

Plant group

Deciduous Trees and Shrubs

American witch-hazel is a deciduous shrub or small tree that typically grows 10-15' tall, often with multiple trunks.
251 reports
92+
OBSERVERS
251+
OBSERVATIONS
!

Identification hints

The branches of American witch-hazel are often crooked and spreading outward, forming an irregularly shaped open canopy crown.
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Did you know?

An extract of the leaves, twigs, and bark is used as an astringent in toiletries.
DISTRIBUTION IN TH U.S.
Alabama , Arkansas , Connecticut , District of Columbia , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Iowa , Illinois , Indiana , Kentucky , Louisiana , Massachusetts , Maryland , Maine , Michigan , Minnesota , Missouri , Mississippi , North Carolina , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , Ohio , Oklahoma , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , South Carolina , Tennessee , Texas , Virginia , Vermont , Wisconsin , West Virginia
HABITAT
Growing in moist woods and thickets, tolerating a variety of soils.
ATTRIBUTES
Leaves
Leaves are shallowly lobed, oval-shaped and rounded at the leaf tip. Leaves are glossy bright green above, and pale green below with a hairy midrib. Young leaves can be covered in rusty colored hairs. Leaves turn gold in the fall.
Flowers
Flowers have four stamens and four yellow 1/2-3/4" long petals that are shaped like crinkled narrow strips of ribbon. Four hairy sepals fuse to the ovary, and can still be seen on the mature fruit.
Fruits
Fruit is a woody capsule that expels two shiny seeds when it splits open.
Bark
Bark is smooth and gray to light brown. Inner bark is reddish purple. New branches are somewhat hairy and rusty brown.
Bloom Time
Flowers in the fall between September and December.

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