Tas. 6659. 
HAMAMELIS sapontoa. 
Native of Japan. 
Nat. Ord. HAMAMELIDER. 
Genus Hamametis, Linn.; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol.i. p. 667.) 
HaMAMELIS japonica ; fruticosa v. subarborea, ramulis ultimis petiolis nervisque 
foliorum subtus plus minusve pubescentibus, foliis obovatis ellipticisve sinuato- 
crenatis v. dentatis acutis v. obtusis basi rotundatis acutis v. cordatis sepe 
inequilateris, nervis validis, calycis lobis revolutis rubris, capsula basi tantum 
cum calyce cincta. 
H. japonica, Sieb. et Zuce. Abhandl. Math. Phys. Klasse Baier. Akad. vol. iv. 
pars 2, p. 193; Franch. et Savart Enum. Pl. Jap. vol.i. p. 163, vol. ii. 
p. 368; Walp. Ann. vol. i. p. 982; Miquel Prolus. Fl. Jap. p. 209. 
H. arborea, Masters in Gard. Chron. 1881, pars 1, p. 216, fig. 38. 
A very interesting plant, so closely allied to the North 
American Witch Hazel, H. virginica, that it might easily 
be mistaken for that plant, the principal differences being 
the rather larger flowers with red revolute calyx-lobes, and 
the short fruiting calyx of this; in foliage they are almost 
undistinguishable; the leaves of H. virginica are however 
usually narrower and often more lobulate. Franchet and 
Savart, who discuss the differences between the two species, 
overlook the calyx, and attach most importance to the 
statement that the leaves of H. japonica are six- to nine- 
nerved, and of H. virginica five- to six-nerved, a distinction 
that does not at all hold good; they further observe that 
the calyx in fruit of H. japonica is sometimes half as long 
as the capsule, whilst in all the specimens which I have 
examined it is confined to the base. A plate has been pre- 
pared of H. virginica from plants growing in Kew, to show 
the differences. The genus Hamamelis, consisting only of 
these two species, is one of the best of the many proofs of 
that close connexion between the Floras of Japan and 
Kastern North America, to the exclusion of the Western 
DECEMBER lst, 1882, 
