Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Saxifragales > Hamamelidaceae > Hamamelis > Hamamelis virginiana

Hamamelis virginiana (American witchhazel; witch-hazel; witchhazel)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Witch-hazels (Hamamelis, /ˌhæməˈmiːlɪs/) are a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, with four species in North America (H. mexicana, H. ovalis, H. virginiana, and H. vernalis), and one each in Japan (H. japonica) and China (H. mollis). The North American species are occasionally called winterbloom.
View Wikipedia Record: Hamamelis virginiana

Infraspecies

Hamamelis virginiana var. henryae
Hamamelis virginiana var. henryi
Hamamelis virginiana var. mexicana (Witch-hazel) (Endangered)
Hamamelis virginiana vernalis

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium
Screening - Summer [2]  Dense
Screening - Winter [2]  Porous
Bloom Period [2]  Fall
Drought Tolerance [2]  Low
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  High
Flower Type [3]  Hermaphrodite
Frost Free Days [2]  4 months
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Low
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Spring
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Summer
Growth Form [2]  Multiple Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Slow
Janka Hardness [4]  1530 lbf (694 kgf) Medium
Leaf Type [3]  Deciduous
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Seed
Root Depth [2]  20 inches (51 cm)
Scent [3]  The flowers have a soft sweet perfume.
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Seed Vigor [2]  High
Seeds Per [2]  11000 / lb (24251 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Semi-Erect
Specific Gravity [5]  0.56
Structure [3]  Shrub
Usage [3]  Used as a rootstock for the ornamental species in this genus; The plant is very rich in tannin; It is used cosmetically as an ingredient in almost any preparation made to relieve capillary weaknesses; The stems have been used for water divining; Wood - heavy, hard, very close grained; It weighs 43lb per cubic foot; The trees are too small to be a useful lumber source;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Flower Color [2]  Yellow
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
Flower Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Fruit Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Height [3]  16.4 feet (5 m)
Width [3]  16.4 feet (5 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [2]  USDA Zone: 4 Low Temperature: -30 F° (-34.4 C°) → -20 F° (-28.9 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Mixed Sun/Shade
Soil Acidity [2]  Mostly Acid
Soil Fertility [2]  Intermediate
Water Use [2]  Moderate
View Plants For A Future Record : Hamamelis virginiana

Protected Areas

Ecosystems

Predators

Consumers

Range Map

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 5Chave J, Coomes D, Jansen S, Lewis SL, Swenson NG, Zanne AE (2009) Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Ecology Letters 12: 351-366. Zanne AE, Lopez-Gonzalez G, Coomes DA, Ilic J, Jansen S, Lewis SL, Miller RB, Swenson NG, Wiemann MC, Chave J (2009) Data from: Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Dryad Digital Repository.
♦ 6HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 7Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 8Study of Northern Virginia Ecology
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0