86 



HAMAMELIDACEAE. 



PARROTIA. 

 ( Family Hamamelidaceae ) . 



Small tree, with the bark flak- 

 ing as in Platanus: deciduous. 

 Twigs rounded, somewhat zig-zag, 

 from somewhat dingy stellate-to- 

 mentose becoming glabrate: pith 

 rather small, 3-sided, continuous, 

 greenish. Buds moderate, soli- 

 tary, stalked, oblique, ovoid-ob- 

 long, with 2 scales, the end-bud 

 somewhat larger. Leaf-scars al- 

 ternate, 2-ranked, half-round or 

 triangular, slightly raised, small: 

 bundle-traces 3, sometimes com- 

 pound: stipule-scars very unequal. 

 Parrotia persica is markedly 

 different from other trees re- 

 ferred to the Hamamelidaceae in 

 its conspicuously exfoliating bark 

 and nearly black buds. Its winter- 

 characters are pictured by Schnei- 

 der, f. 96. 

 Parrotia agrees with Hamamelis and differs from Fother- 



gilla in bearing its fruits in compact short clusters. It is 



rather tenderer than either of the others but is entirely hardy 



farther north than Washington. 



An interesting characteristic of the family is that when 



the woody capsules dehisce the pressure of their walls upon 



the smooth seeds forces these out much as a melon-seed may 



be snapped from between finger and thumb. 



Twigs brown: buds blackish-puberulent. (1). P. persica. 



Twigs olive: buds dingy puberulent. P. Jacquemontiana. 



The winter-characters of Disanthus cercidifolia, of the 



Hamamelidaceae, are pictured by Shirasawa, 254, pi. 6. 



