Witch Hazel

Witch Hazel is a premium plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2, tied to the 2016 Lawn of Doom event introduced in the 5.4 update. It costs 200 sun. When planted, it transforms a zombie in its lane or an adjacent lane into a Puff-shroom. It prefers to target Wizard Zombies. Once its ability is activated, it will be vulnerable, meaning that it needs another 18 seconds to reload its ability once again. It has the same range for amount of lanes as Lightning Reed, targeting only three lanes.

Origins
Witch Hazel is based on the plant witch-haze. Its name is a portmanteau of "witch-hazel," the real-life plant it is based on, and "witch," hence its appearance.

Almanac entry
Sun cost: 200

TOUGHNESS: Typical

RECHARGE: Slow

Witch Hazel uses magical sorcery to transform zombies into Puff-shrooms.

Special: prefers to target Wizard Zombies

Witch Hazel paused, unsure how to proceed. Then all at once, she knew: Use magic, like, ALL THE TIME!

Plant Food effect
When fed Plant Food, Witch Hazel will transform the closest zombie in its range into a Toadstool. If there are any Wizard Zombies in its range, then it will target them instead.

Strategies
Witch Hazel is a very interesting plant. Its ability to transform zombies into Puff-shrooms, seems insignificant at first, but can have some very tactful uses. These newly created Puff-shrooms can be used to stall zombies for a brief second, and they can also function as targets for Wizard Zombies and Octo Zombies. Keep in mind that Witch Hazel does not instantly transform Gargantuars into Puff-shrooms; it takes them three hits in order to defeat a Gargantuar, and even then, a Puff-shroom will not spawn from them.

Witch Hazel often struggles against hordes of zombies, so area-of-effect plants like Melon-pult and Phat Beet should be used to help it out. Additionally, Witch Hazel has a slow recharge, but Imitater can shore up this issue.

Keep in mind that Witch Hazel will not transform zombies above water in Pirate Seas and Big Wave Beach, but it will still instantly defeat them.

In Dark Ages, Witch Hazel can be an effective counter to the Wizard Zombie, as it prefers to target them more often than other zombies. Keep in mind though that if there are numerous Wizard Zombies coming out, Witch Hazel may not be enough to stop all of them.

In Endless Zones, Witch Hazel is generally a poor pick due to its ineffectiveness against crowds. While it can help early on in the level to stop early zombies, it becomes fairly ineffective past that point.

Trivia

 * If it transforms a zombie into a Puff-shroom while the Puff-shroom is boosted, the Puff-shroom will have its Plant Food effect go off every time a zombie is transformed into a Puff-shroom.
 * This also happens with Toadstool.
 * The fact that its Plant Food effect features it turning zombies into Toadstools may be a reference to how witches turn characters into frogs and toads in children's stories.
 * It is the only plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2 to target a specific kind of zombie, and one of two overall.
 * The other plant is Carrot Missile (from Plants vs. Zombies Online), which prioritizes Archer Zombie.
 * Cattail and Homing Thistle can be debatable, as Cattail will prioritize their target by the leftmost Balloon Zombie, but both will attack the leftmost zombie in any other situation.
 * In the Zen Garden, it is shown that Witch Hazel has no eyes, even under its "hat."
 * This means that it is the second plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2 that has no eyes, the first being Chomper.
 * Coincidentally, they are both premium plants.
 * Its Almanac entry reuses assets from Bloomerang's entry.
 * It is the second premium plant that is capable of spawning another premium plant, being Toadstool. The first is Escape Root, which has a chance of spawning Grapeshot.
 * It is the third plant tied to the Lawn of Doom event. The first plant being Ghost Pepper, and the second plant being Jack O' Lantern.
 * It is the second plant to change zombies to other plants, the first being Spore-shroom.
 * According to the developers in a Live from PopCap episode, Witch Hazel is the arch-nemesis of the Wizard Zombie.