Hamamelis virginiana was well known as a medicinal plant by Native Americans. Cherokee, Chippewa, Iroquois, Menominee, Mohegan, and Potowatomi tribes used it as a cold remedy, dermatological aid, febrifuge, gynecological aid, eye medicine, kidney aid, and in other ways (D. E. Moerman 1986).
Witch-hazel was subsequently used by the early European settlers in similar ways. A tea of the leaves was employed for a variety of medicinal purposes. The twigs were used as divining rods (water-witching), thus giving the vernacular name to the plant. Modern uses employ both the bark and leaves, and a good demand still exists for the pleasant-smelling water of witch-hazel, derived from the leaves and bark. The products are used in skin cosmetics, shaving lotions, mouth washes, eye lotion, ointments, and soaps.
Hamamelis virginiana is sometimes cultivated, largely for its autumn flowering.
The largest known tree of Hamamelis virginiana , 10.6 m in height with a trunk diameter of 0.4 m, is recorded from Bedford, Virginia (American Forestry Association 1994).