The bush with the pretty yellow flowers is Witch Hazel, a deciduous plant common to Canada and the Eastern USA. It is also grown commercially in Europe.
It qualifies for Halloween Week because of its name, and also because the most common species, Hamamelis Virginiana, is in bloom this time of year. Witch Hazel is very unusual in that its blooms open at the same time as the previous years seeds ripen in their casings. The casings burst open and Witch Hazel plants cast their seeds out up to twenty feet.
Extracts from the Witch Hazel plant has been used to treat almost every ailment known to man.
It is an astringent and a vaso-constrictor that often appears in after-shave and in medications for sunburn, bug bites, poison ivy and everything from acne to hemorrhoids, sore muscles to bleeding gums.
Tea made by adding 1/2 teaspoon of Witch Hazel leaves and 1/2 teaspoon of the bark to a pint of boiling water can be used as a gargle for sore throat. The same tea, taken internally, has been recommended as a treatment for diarrhea, and also can be used as a douche to treat vaginitis.
Folks in Europe swear by a tincture of Witch Hazel and alcohol that they drink to counteract varicose veins.
The name Witch in witch-hazel has its origins in Middle English wiche, from the Old English wice, meaning "pliant" or "bendable". Hazel is derived from the use of the twigs as divining rods, just as hazel twigs were used in England. This use may also have influenced the "witch" part of the name, since use of a divining rod was also called “witching” for water.
And then there are at least two Witch Hazels from my youth – the one in the Little Lulu comics:
and the one who starred with Bugs Bunny in the Warner Brothers cartoons:
You can watch Bugs and Hazel in action in a Looney Tunes epic here:
There's a christmas witch named BEEFENA and she is like Santa brings toys to good kids and coal to the bad ones
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