Can
you identify what's in this photo?
Each Wednesday morning
on Camp Lutherlyn's Facebook page
the Lutherlyn Environmental
Education Program posts a photo.
Readers
have all morning and afternoon
to
make their best guess about what the photo is.
Around
6 pm LEEP provides the answer and a brief explanation.
Each
week's What is it Wednesday post
will
also be posted on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog,
after it is posted on Facebook,
sometimes
with additional bonus information.
In
addition to bringing you current editions of What is it Wednesday
on the
Nature of Lutherlyn blog,
we
will be reposting old editions,
creating
a What is it Wednesday archive.
This photo was posted as a What is it Wednesday on
December 5, 2018.
And
the answer is....
Unlike most plants, witch hazel blooms in the late fall, around the same time that leaves are dropping from deciduous plants. At the same time, the seed pods of the previous year are maturing, ready to spring tiny black seeds (up to 30 feet!) from bursting pods. So witch hazel goes dormant, blooms, and spreads its seeds all at the same time.
This unusual timing seemed unnatural to European settlers.
The old words “wicke” and “wyche,”
meaning lively and bendable, were already associated with the shrub.
These words, its unnatural timing, and the pointy “witches cap” shaped galls on
the leaves conspired to give the shrub the lasting common name of witch hazel.
Witch hazel has also long been used as a folk remedy for many ailments, and continues to be used as an astringent that soothes skin irritations and is a component in many cosmetics.
Like and follow Camp Lutherlyn on
Facebook, to see What is it Wednesday posts when
they come out and have the opportunity to share your guesses in the comments!
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