HAMAMELIDE^E. ( WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY.) 179 



4. D. Hlif6rmis, Raf. (THREAD-LEAVED SUNDEW.) Leaves very long 

 and filiform, erect, with no distinction between blade and stalk; seeds spindle- 

 shaped; flowers numerous, purple rose-color (J' broad). Wet sand, near the 

 coast, Mass, to N. J. and Fla. 



Muscf PULA, Ellis, the VENUS'S FLY-TRAP, so noted for the ex- 

 traordinary irritability of its leaves, closing quickly at the touch, is a native 

 of the sandy savannas of the eastern part of N. C. It differs in several respects 

 from the character of the order given above ; the stamens being 1 5, the styles 

 united into one, and the seeds all at the base of the pod. 



ORDER 38. HAMAMELIDE^E. (WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY.) 



Shrubs or trees, with alternate simple leaves and deciduous stipules , flow- 

 ers in heads or spikes, often polygamous or monoecious ; the calyx cohering 

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

 a 2-beaked, 2-celled woody capsule, opening at the summit, with a single bony 

 seed in each cell, or several, only one or two of them ripening. Petals in- 

 serted on the calyx, narrow, valvate or involute in the bud, or often none 

 at all. Stamens twice as many as the petals, and half of them sterile and 

 changed into scales, or numerous. 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 barely 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 con- 



solidated by their bases in a dense head. 



1. HAMAMELIS, L. WITCH-HAZEL. 



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

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

 als 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 encloses the single large and 

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

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

 a/ma, at the same time with, and fj.r)\is, an apple-tree ; a name anciently applied 

 to the Medlar, or some similar tree.) 



1. H. Virgini&na, 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. Scotia to Fla., 

 west to E. Minn, and La. 



2. FOTHERGfLLA, L. 



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

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



