The Garden Bug: Witch Hazel

By Brenda Weaver

The Osage tribes used witch hazel bark to treat skin ulcers and sores. The Potawatomi steamed twigs of the plant to soothe sore muscles. The Iroquoi brewed a tea from it to treat dysentery, colds, and coughs. The early European settlers observed native American tribes using sticks from the witch hazel shrub to find underground sources of water: the "dowsing" end of the forked branch would bend when underground water was detected.

Sources: theatlantic.com, www.fs.usda.gov