CHAPTER XXXIII: THE WITCH HAZEL AND 



THE SWEET GUM 



Family HAMAMELiDACEy^ 



Trees with slender twigs and fibrous roots. Leaves simple, 

 opposite, deciduous. Flowers with parts in four's, perfect or 

 unisexual. Fruits v/oody 2-valved, i, to 2-seeded capsules. 



KEY TO GENERA AND SPECIES 



A. Leaves obovate, unequal at base; flowers perfect, autumnal. 

 I. Genus HAMAMELIS, Linn. 



(r/. Virginiana) witch hazel 

 AA. Leaves star shaped, symmetrical at base; flowers monoe- 

 cious, staminate in terminal racemes, pistillate in 

 axillary long-stalked heads, in early summer. 



2. Genus LIQUIDAMBAR, Linn. 



(L. Styraciflua) sweet gum 



The relationship of the witch hazel and sweet gum is not 

 obvious to the general observer. In fact, the common characters 

 are such as only the keen eye of the botanist detects. The 2- 

 horned woody capsules joined together in the sweet gum seed 

 ball is morphologically the same type as the solitary woody 2- 

 lipped seed capsule of the witch hazel. 



Eighteen genera compose the subtropical family, Hamame- 

 lidaceas. Two genera, each with a single species, are native to 

 North America. There are two or three species of Hamamelis 

 in Eastern Asia. The four species of Liquidambar include one 

 Mexican and two Asiatic species beside our own sweet gum. 



1. Genus HAMAMELIS, Linn. 



The Witch Hazel {Hamamelis Virginiana, Linn.) A 

 small tree, or usually a stout shrub, rarely 25 feet high. Bark 



270 



