172 TREES GROWING IN RICH SOIL. 



parted, with bractlets underneath; inner surface orange-brown; pubescent. 

 Corolla : bright yellow ; of four almost linear petals, often twisted and falling 

 with the stamens. Fruit : a woody capsule, with orange-brown, pubescent 

 seeds. 



This dainty shrub is one of the unconventional spirits of the 

 woodlands and pays the penalty for its vagaries by having at- 

 tached to it the reputation of witchcraft. It is very slow about 

 ripening its fruit. Throughout the autumn and winter the 

 calyx-lobes protect the ovary which does not begin to enlarge 

 until the following spring. The fruit of one year, therefore, 

 attains maturity at the same time that the flowers of the next 

 year are opening. When the pods burst open they cast forth 

 their seeds with astonishing force and to a great distance from 

 the plant. To the North American Indian we undoubtedly owe 

 the first knowledge of the efficacy of its bark for the curing of 

 inflammations. It has for a long time been distilled in alcohol 

 to make Pond's extract. A strange thing about it is, however, 

 that chemists have failed to discover in it any " active medicinal 

 properties." 



Green hazel wands were for a long time used by the credu- 

 lous to locate, through their supposed power of witchcraft, the 

 presence under ground of gold or of springs of water. A forked 

 branch was twisted between the fingers and thumbs of both 

 hands, and the direction in which it pointed was taken as 

 an indication of where the desired metal or water should be 

 sought. The popular name of the plant is an outcome of this 

 practice. Although we are accustomed to seeing Hamamelis 

 Virginiana as a shrub, it becomes arborescent on the high 

 slopes of the Alleghany mountains in North and South Carolina 

 and in Tennessee. Its wood is reddish brown quite hard and 

 closely grained. 



