This beautiful shrub adds sunny colors to the woods late fall, showing yellow thread-like blossoms at the end of the twigs.  There is a pleasant scent all around the tree when it blooms.  The fruits take a year to develop so the fruit of this and the previous year are often found together on the tree.  Ripe pods burst open and the seeds are ejected as far as 30 feet, rustlings among the leaves.  This eerie sound was associated with witchcraft, thus the common name witch-hazel.  Dried leaves and bark of this tree are used to make a liquid potion used for treating cuts and burns.