228 THE WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY. 



WITCH=HAZEL. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Witch-hazel. Broad; %-}p/eet, Texas^ Florida^ Nerv Briins- September-December, 



spreading. zvick and ivest^vard. Fruit: November. 



Bark: brown ; smooth, exfoliating in thin scales. Inner bark : purplish red. 

 Stiptiles : lanceolate. Leaves : with short stout petioles ; obovate ; pointed or 

 rounded at the apex, unequal at the base ; repand dentate ; frequently entire be- 

 low the middle. Dull green above, lighter coloured and [jubescent underneath ; 

 slightly astringent. Floiocrs : bright yellow ; growing in axillary clusters on short 

 peduncles. Calyx: four parted, with bractlets underneath; inner surface orange- 

 brown, pubescent. Corolla : yellow, of four almost linear petals, often twisted 

 and falling with the stamens. Fruit : a woody capsule, with black or dark brown 

 shining seeds. 



Black shadows are gathering about the tree stumps ; their boughs are 

 forming an upper sea of leaden colour ; little ground animals are carrying 

 nuts to their holes ; the weather is pulling itself together for the strong 

 blasts of winter when the witch-hazel bush opens wide its buds and sends 

 forth masses of pale yellow bloom as timid and tender looking as that of 

 the spice bush in earliest spring. Hardly another flower can then be found 

 although over the fences quantities of the bitter-sweet's orange and scarlet 

 fruit is clustered and a belated dandelion, perhaps, blooms in the fields. 

 The fallen oak-leaves also have still their crisp rustle. This is as well the 

 season when the witch-hazel does its best shooting, and outstrips, in skill, 

 all others of the plant kingdom. From the fruit the bony seeds are shot 

 forth as the capsule's elastic tissues burst and contract. It is an amusing 

 process to watch, provided, of course, one is well out of the bombardment 

 line. That the ripe fruit and the flowers appear simultaneously on the 

 tree is because those blossoms which came into blow late the previous sea- 

 son are very slow in the development of their seeds and which only reach 

 maturity as the next year's blossoms are coming forth. On the slopes of 

 the Alleghenies the witch-hazel is particularly beautiful, being there arbor- 

 escent and of abundant proportions. 



There is in Europe no indigenous Hamamelis ; the tv/o other members 

 of the genus are natives of Japan. The hazel there known, however, is a 

 relative of the elm and has clustered about it many superstitions and 

 much folk-lore. No doubt the early settlers of this country, seeing some 

 resemblance between the leaves of the two plants, christened our shrub and 

 transmitted to it much of the other's reputation. Still there are those 

 living whose faith is unbounded in the power of its twigs to locate under- 

 ground the presence of water, or precious metal. One has but to meet 

 with the credulous soul from the back woods to hear strange tales of wonder 

 brought about through its mysterious potency. 



