 Witch hazel, it actually was a parodia of Persian ironwood. So that's always a possibility. It's buyer beware there is all I can tell you. And the best time to trim lower branches off, the first thing I'd recommend is don't think you have to trim the lower branches off. The plant wouldn't have the lower branches if it didn't want them. And sometimes, especially the first few years of a new plant, those lower branches called a trashy trunk is good for building caliper inches and health of the tree.