Hamamelis mollis Seeds | Chinese Witch Hazel
LATIN NAME: Hamamelis mollis
COMMON NAME: Chinese Witch Hazel
Plant Profile
Hamamelis mollis opens its flowers in January, on bare branches, in a cold that would keep most shrubs dormant. The petals are narrow ribbons of soft yellow, sometimes with a red base, and they curl back in hard frost and unroll when the temperature rises. The scent is strong and clean, and it carries across a garden on a still day.
The shrub grows to about four metres with a spreading, open habit and broad, oval leaves that turn yellow before they fall. The leaves are softly hairy on both sides, which is the easiest way to tell it from the Japanese species, Hamamelis japonica, whose leaves are smooth. The fruit is a woody capsule that takes a year to ripen and then splits explosively, throwing the seed a metre or more.
Science & Biotechnology
Witch hazel’s medicinal reputation belongs mainly to the American species, Hamamelis virginiana, whose twigs and bark are distilled into an astringent water. The active compounds are tannins, chiefly hamamelitannin, together with small amounts of gallic acid and flavonoids, and the distillate is used on bruises, insect bites and inflamed skin. The Chinese species is grown for ornament and is not the commercial source.
The four-petalled flower is adapted to a narrow set of pollinators. In midwinter few insects fly, so the plant relies on small moths and on the odd winter-active fly, and it offers scent rather than nectar volume. The petals’ ability to curl in frost protects them from ice, and the flower can reopen several times in a single winter.
Uses & Benefits
The plant is grown almost entirely for the January flowers and the autumn colour, and named forms are selected for large petals and for a red base. It is used in gardens as a winter specimen, planted where the scent will be caught on a path, and it combines well with snowdrops and with early hellebores.
In Chinese practice the bark and leaves are used as an astringent wash, and the extract appears in some skincare products. The distillate sold as witch hazel in pharmacies is almost always from the American species, so a Chinese plant in a garden is not a supply of the medicine.
Growing from Seed
Seed has a double dormancy and takes two winters to come up. Collect the capsule just before it splits, sow the seed in a pot of peaty mix, and leave it outdoors for two years, never letting it dry out. Named forms are propagated by grafting in late winter or by layering, since seed does not come true.
The shrub wants a sheltered site in sun or light shade, with a deep, acid to neutral soil that holds moisture but drains. It is hardy to about minus twenty, but the flowers are damaged by hard frost, so a spot that catches morning sun is better than a frost pocket. Prune after flowering if needed, since the flowers are carried on the previous year’s wood.
Our Take
The best scent in the garden in January, on a shrub that asks for little beyond acid soil and a sheltered corner.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Chinese Witch Hazel often pair it with these related subjects: