IIAMAMEL.vrK.r.. ( WITCII-IIAZKL FAMILY.) 173 



Order 37. II.4I?I.4ITIElACE.«:. (Witcii-IIazel Family.) 



Shrubs or tires, with alternate simple leaves and deciduous stipules ; floic- 

 ers in heads or spikes, often poli/yainous or monacious ; the calyx cohering 

 with the base of the ovary ; which consists of 2 pistils united below, and forms 

 a •2-btaked, 2-celled woody pod, opening at the summit, uith a sinr/le bony seed 

 in each cell, or several, only one or two of them ripening. — Petals inserted 

 on tlie caly.x, narrow, valvate, or involute in tlie bud, or often none at all. 

 Stamens twice as many as tiie petals, and half of them sterile and changed 

 into scales, or numerous. Seeds anatropous. Embryo large and straight, 

 in sparing aU)umen : cotyledons broad and flat. 



Tribe I. Il.VItl AltlELE^. Flowers with a manifest calyx or cilyx and corolla, and a 

 siiifjlf ovulf suspeiKleil from the summit of each cell. 



1. Ilnmainells. Petals 4, strap-shaped. Stamens and scales each 4, shirt. 



2. Kolhergilla. Petals none. Stamens about 24, long : filaments thickened upwards. 

 Tribe II. BALSAMIPMiiE. Flowers naked, with barely rudiments of a calyx, and 



no corolla, crowded into catkin-like heads. Ovules several or many in each cell 



3. Liquid uiiibar. Monoecious or polygamous. Stamens very numerous. Pods consoli- 



dated by tluir bases in a dense head. 



1. HAMAMELIS, L. Witch-Hazel. 



Flowers in little axillary clusters or heads, usually surrounded hy a scale-like 

 3-leavcd involucre. Caly.x 4-partcd, and with 2 or 3 hractlcts at its hase. Pet- 

 als 4, strap-sha])cd, lonj^ and narrow, spirally iuvuliite in the hud. Stamens 8, 

 very short; the 4 alternate with the petals anthcr-hcariun:, the others imperfect 

 nnd scale-like. Stvles 2, short. Pod o])cning loeulicidally from the top ; the 

 outer coat separating from the inner, which encloses the single hirge and hony 

 seed in each cell, hut soon hursts elastically into two pieces. — Tall shruhs, with 

 straight-veined leaves, and yellow, perfect or polygamous flowers. (From afxa, 

 lib' to, and fiT)\is, an npple-tree ; a name anciently applied to the Medlar, or .-iome 

 other tree resomhling the Apple, which the Witch-IIazel docs not.) 



1. H. Virginica, L. Leaves obovate or oval, wavy-toothed, .«onicwhat 

 downy when young. — Damp woods: blossoming late in autumn, when the 

 leaves arc falling, and maturing its seeds the next summer. 



2. FOTHERGILLA, I., f. Fotiiekgii.i.a. 



Flowers in a terminal cntkin-liko spike, mostly perfect. Calyx hell-shaped, 

 the summit truncate, slightly .'j-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. Pod cohering with the base 

 of the calyx, 2-lol)ed, 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, eneh jiartly covered by 

 a scale-like l.ract. (Dedicated to the distinguished Dr. ./ohn Folli, ri/ill.) 



1. F. alnif61ia. L. f. — Low grounds, Virginia and southward. April, 

 May. 



