HAMAMELIDACEAE (WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY) 453 



luuiierous. Seeds anatropous. Embryo large and straight, in scanty albumen ; 

 cotyledons broad and flat. 



* Flowers with a manifest calyx, or calyx and corolla, and a single ovule suspended from the 



summit of each cell. 



1, Hamamelis. Petals 4, strap-shaped. Stamens and scales each 4, short. 



2. Fothergilla. Petals none. Stamens about 24, long ; filaments thickened upward. 



* * Flowers naked, with mere rudiments of a calyx and no corolla, crowded into catkin-like heads ; 



ovules several or many in each cell. 



3. Liquidambar. Monoecious or polygamous. Stamens very numerous. Capsules consolidated 



by their bases into a dense head. 



1. HAMAMELIS L. Witch-hazel 



Flowers in little axillary clusters or beads, usually surrounded by a scale-like 

 3-leaved involucre. Calyx 4-parted, and with 2 or 3 bractlets at its base. Petals 



4, strap-shaped, long and narrow, spirally involute in the bud. Stamens 8, 

 very short; the 4 alternate with the petals anther-bearing, the others imperfect 

 and scale-like. Styles 2, short. Capsule opening loculicidally from the top ; 

 the outer coat separating from the inner, which incloses the shigle large and 

 bony seed in each cell, but soon bursts elastically into two pieces. — Tall shrubs 

 or small trees, with straight-veined leaves, and yellow perfect or polygamous 

 flowers. (Ancient Greek name applied to the Medlar, or some similar tree.) 



1. H. virginiana L. Leaves obovate or oval, wavy -toothed, somewhat 

 downy when young ; blossoming late in autumn, when the leaves are falling, 

 and maturing its seeds the next summer. — Damp woods, N. S. to Fla., w. to e. 

 Minn, and " Tex." , 



2. FOTHERGILLA Murr. 



Flowers in a terminal catkin-like spike, mostly perfect. Calyx bell-shaped, 

 the summit truncate, slightly 5-7-toothed. Petals none. Stamens about 24, 

 borne on the margin of the calyx in one row, all alike ; filaments very long, 

 thickened at the top (white). Styles 2, slender. Capsule adhering to the 

 base of the calyx, 2-lobed, 2-celled, with a single bony seed in each cell. — A 

 low shrub ; the oval or obovate leaves smooth, or hoary underneath, toothed at 

 the summit; the flowers appearing rather before the leaves, each partly covered 

 by a scale-like bract. (Dedicated to the distinguished Dr. John FothergiU.) 



1. F. Gardeni Murr. (^F. Carolina Britton.) — Low grounds, Va. to Ga. 

 Apr., May. 



3. LIQUIDAMBAR L. Sweet Gum Tree 



Flowers usually monoecious, in globular heads or catkins ; the sterile arranged 

 in a conical cluster, naked ; stamens very numerous, intermixed with minute 

 scales ; filaments short. Fertile flowers consisting of many 2-celled 2-beaked 

 ovaries, subtended by minute scales in place of a calyx, all more or less cohering 

 together and hardening in fruit, forming a spherical catkin or head ; the cap- 

 sules opening between the 2 awl-shaped beaks. Styles 2, stigmatic down the 

 inner side. Ovules many, but only one or two perfecting. Seeds with a wing- 

 angled seed-coat. — Catkins racemed, nodding, in the bud inclosed by a 4-leaved 

 deciduous involucre. (A mongrel name, from liquuliis. fluid, and the Arabic 

 ambar, amber ; in allusion to the fragrant terebinthine juice which exudes from 

 the tree.) 



1. L. Stjnraciflua L. (Sweet Gcm, Bilsted.) Leaves rounded, deeply 

 5-7-lobed, smooth and shining, glandular-serrate, the lobes pointed. — Swampy 

 w^oods, near the coast, s. Ct. to Fla. and Tex. ; inland in Miss, basin to Mo. and 

 111. Apr., May. (Mex., Centr. Am.) — A large and beautiful tree, with fine- 

 grained wood, the gray bark commonly with corky ridges on the branchlets. 

 Leaves fragrant when bruised, turning deep crimson in autumn. The woody 

 pods filled mostly with abortive seeds, which resemble sawdust. 



