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Natural Heritage
• Trees & Shrubs of the Ozarks |
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| Trees & Shrubs Index • Oak • Hickory • Walnut • Catalpa • Loblolly Pine • Red cedar • Elderberry • Sumac • Sassafras • Persimmon • Osage-orange • Mulberry • Witch Hazel • Sarvisberry • Dogwood • Redbud • Crape Myrtle • Mimosa Natural Heritage Index • Fishing • Hunting • Camping • Conservation • Bass Pro Blog • Hills & Hollows • Rivers & Lakes • Springs • Caves • Rocks & Fossils • Trees & Shrubs • Plants & Herbs • Hill Critters • Flyin' Critters • Water Critters • Snakes & Such • Forgotten Critters |
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The sun is setting, nearly behind the ridge.
The creek, cold and surprisingly deep, is speaking softly, playing around amid the rocks.
There is a chill in the air.
It’s February in the Ozarks.
Spring is just around the corner. Right in front of you.
Do you see it?
The unprepossessing shrub hanging over the creek?
Its leaves are brown and crumpled. The branches looking surprisingly like hazel brush.
And there, tiny, strange blossoms smaller than your thumbnail. It’s the herald of the Ozarks spring.
Witch hazel.
— by Joshua Heston
February 20, 2010
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The Ozark Witch-hazel (Hamemelis vernalis)
Unknown to many, there are three native Witch-hazel species, Hamamelis virginiana, H. vernalis, and H. ovalis.
The more well-known Hamamelis virginiana (found growing from Maine to Florida and west to the Great Plains) blooms in the fall, notable for its yellow blossoms.
The Mohegans are credited with introducing H. virginiana’s medicinal qualities to the European settlers.
The beautiful and rare Hamamelis vernalis is also known as the Ozark Witch-hazel.
Ozark Witch-hazel blooms in late winter and early spring (hence the name vernalis) and is found only in the wild in Ozark river valleys.
Flower color ranges from yellow to orange and even red. It is the Witch-hazel pictured on this page.
There is some controversy over which species the Osage used medicinally (H. virginiana also grows in the Ozarks).
— contributed by Denise Hansson
Rutgers Master Gardener / Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey
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Witch Hazel (Hamemelis virginiana)
Size: 5 to 15 feet tall; leaves 4 to 6 inches long.
What to look for:leaves asymetrical at base, with coarse, rounded teeth; flowers yellow, clustered, with narrow, twisted petals (late fall [in northern climates]).
Habitat: bottomlands, forests, streambanks.
— page 323, Wernett, Susan J., et al. North American Wildlife. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1986.
Hamamelis vernalis photo plates
Plate 1, Eleven Point riverbank, Oregon County, Missouri, 02/18/09. Plates 2 through 4, Rocky Creek, Shannon County, Missouri, 02/20/09.