The Witch Hazel and the Sweet Gum 



light brown, scaly or smooth. IVood close grained, hard, heavy, 

 brownish red, with thick, white sap wood. Buds sickle shaped, 

 pale brown, hairy, enclosed in leafy stipules. Leaves alternate, 

 unsymmetrical, strongly veined, oval or obovate, wavy margined, 

 or coarsely serrate, 4 to 6 inches long, rusty-hairy at first, yellow 

 in autumn, often hanging all winter. Flowers in autumn, clus- 

 tered, greenish, with 4 yellow ribbon-like petals. Fruits ripe 

 in autumn, a 2-beaked, 2-celled, woody capsule that opens ex- 

 plosively; seeds, 2, black, shiny. Preferred habitat, low, rich soil 

 or rocky stream banks. Distribution, Nova Scotia to Nebraska, 

 south to Florida and Eastern Texas. Uses: Valuable orna- 

 mental. Bark, twigs and leaves used in making extract for 

 rubbing bruises. 



There is nothing in the forest west of the Mississippi Valley 

 that quite compensates the Easterner for the absence of the 

 witch hazel, familiar to every lover of the woods in his half of 

 the continent. Not that it is a very important tree, in any 

 practical sense, but it is an integral and familiar part of the 

 woods it frequents, filling in the bare places with undergrowth 

 and exhibiting interesting and unusual habits. It is the most 

 inconspicuous tree in the woods in spring. Its opening leaves are 

 coated with rusty hairs, which the botanist finds interesting 

 because they branch into star-shaped tops. But to the casual 

 observer these leaves look old and dingy, compared with the bright 

 green foliage about. And no sign of bloom adorns the witch 

 hazel while the impressive flower pageant is passing. Only the 

 curious, lifting a branch and looking in the axils of last year's 

 leaves, will see little curved stems each capped by a cluster of 

 green-grey cups, dull from their winter's contact with the elements. 

 On the newer shoots, and at the bases of leafy side spurs cluster 

 tiny green balls no larger than pin heads. A few brown pods, dry 

 and empty, drop to the ground, as the wind shakes the tree. 



All through the summer the witch hazel tells its secrets only 

 to the thoughtful and keen-eyed observer. The side branches 

 send out twigs of varying lengths. The longest and thriftiest 

 of these are near the extremity of the limb, where the best light is, 

 and the most room. Here the broad leaves spread their faces 

 toward the sun, and under them little green buttons assert them- 

 selves, rending apart the cups that easily contained them in 

 spring. 



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