Oct 21 2019
The common names of these plants and fungi are evocative, but which witches are really named for the occult? Some are named to describe their spooky appearance, like the witches' butter fungus and witches' hair lichen, growing in damp woods and calling to mind the fantastical.
Witches' brooms are irregular growths on a plant caused by several possible factors, like genetic mutations, injury or infection by fungi or plant parasites. The plant will experience massive growth of many shoots that grow looking like a bundle of twigs, or witches' brooms.
Witchgrass seems to come from variation of 'quitch,' a word going back past the 12th century to refer to quack grass.
The witch in witch hazel, and its close relative witch alder, seems to stem from the Middle English 'wicke' meaning liveley, and an old Anglo-Saxon word 'wych,' which means to bend, because of the plants flexible stems and use in dowsing for water.
All the species of the orchid genus Ponthieva are referred to as Shadow Witches, perhaps because of their occurance in shady forests and swamps. Mrs. Britton's Shadow Witch was named in honor of NYBG co-founder, Elizabeth Britton, who collected the type specimen.
The bluewitch nightshade is a poisonous nightshade with blue purple flowers. Many species of Solanum have been used historically to grow near a home or hang as a charm near a door, or around the neck of livestock, to ward off witchcraft.
Plants within the genus Striga are called witchweed. They are parasitic plants which infect many important crop plants like corn, sorghum, rice, sugarcane and tobacco. Many species are native in tropical Asia but are invasive in the United States and other regions, where they pose a serious risk to economic crops.