Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’

On my family tree and the one out the window…

Growing on the sunny side of the window closest to my current desk is a beautiful Witchhazel. While I don’t know the story of Arnold’s promise, the name of this particular cultivar, I do know a thing about witches. It turns out that my sister is a witch… or shall I say that both my sister and I are descendants of a witch. We happen to be relatives of Susannah Martin, one of 19 witches hanged in Salem in 1692.

While this relation bestows many powers upon me (spells, potion mixing, broomcraft travel, etc.) it unfortunately does not provide for a fuller understanding of Hamamelis x intermedia, common name Witchhazel. If one traces the etymology of this common name it shakes out that the witch in Witchhazel is derived from the Old English word ”wice” and the Middle English ”wyche”, both of which mean pliant. Susan Post at the INHS Center for Economic Entomology explains;

The tree has also been called water-witch. The word witch comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “to bend.” The forked springy branches of witch hazel were used by early settlers, and later dowsers, as divining rods to search and detect underground water and minerals.

As someone more attune with magical mixes I find the plants homepathic uses as an astringent and lotion more valuable. Scroll down Steven Foster’s overview of Witchhazel for a tested preparation of bark and leaves and some excellent background information on this fine plant.

Looking back to the family tree, the genealogical rhizomes of the Moody’s (including Susannah Martin) have been studied and documented by my Grandmother, Dorothy Moody, and it is a gift from her that I turn to as a conclusion. She recently gave me her copy of Trees, Stars and Birds, a book of Outdoor Science, published in 1919 by Edwin Lincoln Moseley. Upon receiving it I learned that it was one of her favorite books as a child and that she often studied it in her youth. Trees, stars and birds linked in words and drawings… The mixture is very inspiring to me and I can’t help but set a sylvan scene of Witchhazel potions, sun yellow flowers and flying witches when I peek beyond the panes from the drawing on my desk.