THE AMERICAN BOTANaST 45 



turn in October, 1908. Mr. Bush found this witch hazel in 

 the mountains of North CaroHna. 



At the date of writing (April 4) it is just in full bloom 

 at the Arboretum, quite small plants being- well covered, and 

 though not so showy as the Japanese or Chinese species yet it 

 is an exceedingly interesting and desirable addition to our early 

 spring flowering shrubs. The flowers have a deep red center 

 and the petals, about half an inch in length are rich yellow 

 suffused with red. The foliage closely resembles the Japanese 

 H. arhorea. In Massachusetts this new Hamamelis is per- 

 fectly hardy and will, I think, prove a useful addition to our 

 gardens. 



Owing to the courtesy of Professor C. S. Sargent this 

 shrub has been growing in European gardens for the last two 

 years, from where, I understand, you first heard of it. — A. E. 

 Thatcher, Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, Mass. 



[In a later communication Mr. Thatcher writes that the 

 new witch hazel has been given the appropriate name of 

 Hamamelis vernale. Mr. Charles E. A. Hale of Savan- 

 nah, Georgia writes that he has found a witch hazel in full 

 flower in his locality late in January. This is possibly the 

 new species. A curious feature of the general region from 

 which the new shrub comes is found in the fact that it pro- 

 duces several species that fruit out of season as compared with 

 their congeners in the North. One of the grape ferns, Botry- 

 chiiim biternatum, fruits here in spring, though all its close 

 allies, farther toward the pole do not fruit until autumn and 

 do not, in fact, appear above the earth at all until late June 

 or even July. — Ed.] 



