Witch-hazel grows in many parts of the United States. The leaves and bark are the parts that are employed for medical purposes.

Medical properties and uses. -- A tea made of the bark will, in many instances, check hemorrhages of the lungs, stomach and bowels. It makes a very valuable injection for the whites and ulceration of the womb. The Indians know of no more efficient and better article with which to poultice scrofulous tumors, felons, white swellings, and old sores, than a poultice of witch hazel bark. Take oak bark ooze, witch-hazel, and oil of cajaput, and first mix them with flour until you have a thin slush, then mix with mutton tallow, and you have a very fine pile ointment, to be applied three or four times a day; best bathe the parts, before applying, with warm rain water. Dose of the tea, a wineglassful three or four times a day. Of the tincture, a teaspoonful the same number of times.