witch alder

American  

noun

1. a shrub, Fothergilla gardenii, of the witch hazel family, native to the southeastern U.S., having spikes of white flowers that bloom before the leaves appear.

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Etymology

Origin of witch alder

1810–20, witch hazel, wych elm

Example Sentences

Willow and witch alder, stunted birch and poplar had found roothold, clothed it, until only their crowding outposts, thrusting forward in a wavering semicircle, held back seemingly by the blue hordes, showed where it melted into the meadows.

From Project Gutenberg