Tree Study 



8n 



hazel leaves are likely to be apartment houses for insects, especially the 

 insects that make galls. Of these there are many species, each making a 

 diffei ent shaped gall. One of the most common is a gall, shaped like a little 

 horn or spur on the upper side of the leaf and having a tiny door opening on 

 the under side of the leaf. If one of these snug little homes is torn open, it 

 will be found occupied by a community of little aphids, or plant-lice. 



The witch-hazel blossoms appear at the axil of a leaf or immediately 

 above the scar from which a leaf has fallen, the season of bloom being so late 

 that often the bush is bare of leaves and is clothed only with the yellow, 

 fringe-like flowers. Usually the flowers are in clusters of three, but occa- 

 sionally four or five can be found on the same very short stem. The calyx 

 is four-lobed, the petals are four in number, shaped like tiny, yellow ribbons, 

 about one-half inch long and 

 not much wider than a coarse 

 thread. In the bud, these 

 petals are rolled inward in a 

 close spiral, like a watch- 

 spring, and are coiled so tightly 

 that each bud is a solid little 

 ball no larger than a bird-shot. 

 There are four stamens lying 

 between the petals, and be- 

 tween each two of these 

 stamens is a little scale just 

 opposite the petal. The 

 anthers are most interesting. 

 Each has two little doors 

 which fly open, as if by magic 

 springs, and throw out the 

 pollen which clings to them. 

 The pistil has two stigmas, 

 which are joined above the 

 two-celled seed-box, or ovary. 

 The blossoms sometimes open 



1, A queer little face witcJi-hazelnut ready 

 to shoot its seeds. 2, Enlarged flower of witch- 

 hazel showing the long petals; p, with dotted 

 line the pistil; an, anther; a, anther with doors 

 open; c, lobes of calyx; sc, scale opposite the 



in late September, but the base of petal. 



greater number appear in 



October and November. They are more beautiful in November after 



the leaves have fallen, since these yellow, starry flowers seem to bring 



light and warmth into the landscape. After the petals fall, the calyx 



forms a beautiful little urn, holding the growing fruit. 



The nuts seem to require a sharp frost to separate the closely joined 

 parts; it requires a complete year to mature them. One of these nuts is 

 about half an inch long and is covered with a velvety green outer husk, until 

 the frost turns it brown; cutting through it discloses a yellowish white 

 inner shell, which is as hard as bone; within this are the two brown seeds 

 each ornamented with a white dot ; note particularly that these seeds lie in 

 close-fitting cells. The fruit, if looked at when the husk is opening, bears 

 an odd resemblance, to a grotesque monkey-like face with staring eyes. 

 Frosty nights will open the husks, and the dry warmth of sunny days or of 

 the heated schoolroom, will cause the edges of the cups which hold the seeds, 

 to curve inward with such force as to send the seeds many feet away; 

 ordinarily they are thrown from ten to twenty feet, but Hamilton Gibson 



