234 



HAMAMELIDACEAE. 



VOL. II. 



Family 50. HAMAMELIDACEAE Lindl. Veg. Kingd. 784. 1847. 

 WITCH HAZEL FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with alternate petioled simple leaves, and perfect, polygamous 

 monoecious flowers, variously clustered. Perianth often imperfect. Calyx-tube, 

 when present, more or less adnate to the ovary, its limb truncate or 4- or 5-lobed. 

 Petals, when present, 4 or 5, perigynous. Stamens 4-00, perigynous ; filaments 

 distinct. Disk circular or none. Overy compound, of 2 carpels united below, 

 2-celled ; styles 2, subulate, erect or recurved ; ovules I, suspended. Fruit a 2-celled 

 2-beaked woody or coriaceous capsule, dehiscent at the summit. Seeds i in each 

 cavity, anatropous ; embryo large ; endosperm scanty. 



About 13 genera and 40 species, natives of North America, Asia and South Africa. 



Flowers white, in catkin-like spikes; petals none. 

 Flowers yellow, in axillary clusters ; petals long. 



1. Fothergilla. 



2. Hamamelis. 



i. FOTHERGILLA Murr. Syst. Veg. 418. 1774. 



Shrubs, the foliage somewhat stellate-pubescent. Leaves alternate, obovate. Flowers 

 perfect, or often polygamous (sometimes monoecious) in catkin-like bracted terminal spikes, 

 appearing a little before the leaves. Calyx campanulate, slightly 5-7-lobed. Petals none. 

 Stamens about 24, inserted on the edge of the calyx; anthers subglobose. Ovary 2-celled; 

 styles slender; ovules I in each cell. Capsule cartilaginous, 2-celled, 2-seeded. Seeds bony, 

 pendulous. [Named for Dr. John Fothergill, 1712-1780, an English naturalist] 



A monotypic genus of eastern North America. 



i. Fothergilla Gardeni Murr. Fothergilla. 

 Fig. 2194. 



Hamamelis virginiana Carolina L. Mant. 333. 1771. 

 Fothergilla Gardeni Murr. Syst. Veg. 418. 1774. 

 Fothergilla alnifolia L. f. Suppl. 267. 1781. 

 F, Carolina Britton, Mem. Torr. Club 5: 180. 1894. 



A shrub, 2-5 high, the young twigs densely 

 stellate-pubescent. Leaves short-petioled, 2'-$' 

 long, obovate or broadly oval, obtuse or short- 

 pointed at the apex, rounded or narrowed at the 

 base, usually inequilateral, coarsely dentate- 

 crenate above the middle, or entire, more or less 

 stellate-pubescent; spikes dense, erect, i'-2' long; 

 bracts densely pubescent, the lower ones some- 

 times lobed ; stamens white or pinkish, 2"~4" 

 long; capsule very pubescent. 



In wet grounds, Virginia to Georgia. Witch- or 

 dwarf-alder. April. 



2. HAMAMELIS L. Sp. PI. 124. 1753. 



Shrubs, with alternate leaves, and clustered lateral yellow bracted flowers, appearing in 

 late summer or autumn. Calyx 4-parted, persistent, adnate to the lower part of the ovary. 

 Petals 4, elongated, linear, persistent, or in the staminate flowers sometimes wanting. Sta- 

 mens 4, alternating with 4 scale-like staminodia; filaments very short; anthers dehiscent by 

 a valve. Ovary 2-celled; styles 2, short; ovules i in each cell, pendulous. Capsule woody, 

 at length 2-valved at the summit. Seed oblong, its testa shining. [Greek, with the apple, 

 flower and fruit being borne together.] 



A genus of 3 known species, one native of eastern North America, the others of Japan. 



