THE SWEET OR RED GUM AND WITCH HAZEL 189 



the yellow pennants of the witch hazel are uncoiled and the Novem- 

 ber woods are tinged with a yellow halo by the millions of crinkly 

 petals, last seasons woody capsules are opened and loaded and 

 ready to bombard the loiterer in the woods with their doubled 

 barrelled load of hard bony seeds. With the contraction of the 

 walls of the capsule in drymg the seeds are suddenly and forcibly 

 expelled a distance of a score of feet or more. 



There are three existing species of witch hazel and their distri- 

 bution confirms the story learned from that of the sweet gum. 

 Our North American form ranges from the maritime provinces of 

 Canada westward up the St. Lawrence Valley through southern 

 Ontario to Wisconsin and eastern Nebraska, and southward to 

 northern Florida and eastern Texas. It thus extends much farther 

 north than the sweet gum and unlike the latter it reaches its largest 

 size on the slopes of the higher AUeghanies in the Carolinas. The 

 wood is too small to be of any particular use. The witch hazel is, 

 however, often cultivated as an ornamental plant in our northern 

 States and in northern and western Europe, because of its odd 

 habit of blooming in the fall and winter, a habit shared by the 

 oriental species. The bark and leaves are slightly astringent and 

 although without any known essential properties are largely used 

 in homeopathic practice, and the extract made by distilling the 

 bark in dilute alcohol is extensively sold as a toilet water. 



The two other existing species of witch hazel are Asiatic — one, 

 Hammelia japonica S. & Z. being found in the mountains of 

 Japan (Kiusiu and Nippon) and southern China (Kiangsi and Hu- 

 peh). Thus all the witch hazels are essentially small mountain 

 trees or shrubs and not bottom dwellers like the sweet gum. 



Although we are sure, from their present distribution, that the 

 witch hazels of today are the relics of an ancient line, we know little 

 of their geological history. In the mid-Cretaceous of North 

 America a number of leaves have been found which have been 

 described under the name of Hamamelites (Saporta). Some of 

 these are very like witch hazel leaves but whether they are veritable 

 witch hazels or represent some other members of this family it is 

 impossible to determine conclusively. Other related forms occur 



