GENUS 2. 



WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY. 



I. Hamamelis virginiana L. Witch- 

 Hazel. Fig. 2195. 



Hamamelis virginiana L Sp. PI. 124. 1753. 



A shrub, or rarely a small tree with max- 

 imum height of about 25, the twigs slightly 

 scurfy, or glabrous. Leaves short-petioled, 

 obovate or broadly oval, obtuse or pointed at 

 the apex, somewhat cordate and inequilateral 

 at the base, stellate-pubescent, at least when 

 young, 2'-s' long, thick, repand-dentate ; flow- 

 ers in axillary clusters, nearly sessile, bright 

 yellow, appearing late in the season, when the 

 leaves are falling and while the previous fruit 

 remains ; petals narrow, about $" wide, 6"-9" 

 long; calyx-lobes spreading or recurved, oval, 

 ciliate, pubescent on the outer surface ; cap- 

 sule maturing the next season, beaked with the 

 2 persistent styles, densely pubescent, 3"-4" 

 high, at length bursting elastically ; seeds bony. 



In low woods, Nova Scotia to Ontario, Minne- 

 sota, Florida, Texas. Wood hard ; weight per 

 cubic foot 43 Ibs. Spotted-alder. Tobacco-wood. 

 Snapping-hazel. Pistachio. Winter-bloom. Aug. 

 Dec. Jan.-March in the southwest. 



1830. 



Family 51. ALTINGIACEAE Hayne, Flora i: 172. 



ALTINGIA FAMILY. 



Forest trees producing a balsamic resin, with furrowed bark, and terete or 

 sometimes corky-winged branchlets. Leaves alternate, glandular-serrate, pal- 

 mately lobed or unlobed ; stipules mostly deciduous. Flowers usually monoecious, 

 sometimes perfect, in heads surrounded by three or four deciduous bracts. Perianth 

 wanting. Heads of staminate flowers in terminal racemes or panicles; androecium 

 of numerous stamens, interspersed with minute scales. Pistillate flowers in soli- 

 tary, long-peduncled axillary heads ; gynoecium of two united carpels ; ovary 

 partly inferior; stigmas stout; ovules several or numerous in each carpel, hori- 

 zontal. Fruit a hard, dry, multicapsular head, sometimes armed with the stout 

 persistent stigmas. Capsules opening at the apex, between the bases of the 

 stigmas. Fertile seeds few, winged ; testa crustaceous ; embryo straight, imbedded 

 in fleshy endosperm ; cotyledons flat. Sterile seeds numerous, wingless, angled. 



Five genera and about 10 species, natives of southern Europe, Asia, and eastern North America. 



i. LIQUIDAMBAR L. Sp. PI. 999. 1753. 



Large trees with resinous sap, simple alternate lobed petioled leaves, and small monoe- 

 cious flowers in heads, the staminate clusters racemose, the pistillate ones usually solitary. 

 Calyx and corolla of the staminate_ flowers none ; stamens numerous ; filaments short ; 



anthers longitudinally dehiscent. Calices of the 

 pistillate flowers confluent; petals none; anthers 

 rudimentary,- borne on the edge of the calyx; 

 ovary partly inferior, 2-celled; ovules several 

 or numerous, styles 2. Capsules 2-beaked, 

 2-valved at the summit, dry, hard, forming a 

 dense spinose globular head. [Name Latin- 

 Arabic referring to the fragrant sap.] 



i. LiquidambarStyracifluaL. Sweet Gum. 

 Star-leaved or Red Gum. Fig. 2196. 



Liquidambar Styraciflua L. Sp. PI. 999. 1753. 



A forest tree, maximum height about 150 ; bark 

 very rough, branches usually winged with corky 

 ridges. Twigs glabrous or slightly pubescent; 

 leaves broader than long, 3'-o/ wide, subcordate 

 at base, deeply 3~7-lobed, glabrous above, often 

 pubescent in the axils of the veins beneath, the 

 lobes triangular-ovate, acute, sharply and finely 

 serrate; sterile flower-clusters erect or spreading, 



