260 HAMAMELACE^. Hamamelis. 



1. HAMAMELIS. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 4591. WITCH hazel. 



[Origin of the name uncertain.] 



Calyx 4-parted, with 2-3 bracteoles at the base. Petals 4, very long and linear, withering. 

 Ferlile stamens 4 : filaments very short : anthers 2-celled ; the cells opening by a lid-like 

 valve. Sterile stamens scale-like, and opposite the petals. Styles 2, short. Capsule thick 

 and somewhat woody ; the base coherent with the calyx-tube : endocarp separating and 

 enclosing the seed, at length bursting elastically into two pieces. Seeds oblong : testa 

 shining, crustaceous. — Shrubs or small trees. Leaves on short petioles, sinuate-toothed. 

 Clusters of flowers axillary. Petals yellow. 



1. Hamamelis Virginica, Linn. Witch Hazel. 



Heads of flowers surrounded with a scale-like 3-leaved involucre ; leaves obovate or oval, 

 repandly or sinuately toothed, unequal and slightly cordate at the base, roughened underneath 

 with elevated points. — Linn. sp. 1. p. 116; Catesb. Carol. 3. t. 2 \ Wang. Amer. p. 89. 

 t. 29. /. 62 ; Michx. fl. I. p. 100; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 116; Ell. sk. 1. p. 219; Nutt. gen. 1. 

 p. 107 ; Torr.Jl. l.p. 192 ; Bart.fl. Am. Sept. 3. t. 78 ; Bigel.ji. Bost. p. 61 ; DC. prodr. 

 4. p. 268 ; Beck, bol. p. 152 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 114 ; " Guimp. Otto ^ Hayne, holz. 

 t. 75." H. inacrophylla, Pursh, I. c. 



A shrub 6-12 feet high, often with several stems, which are sometimes 4 inches in dia- 

 meter near the base ; the branches numerous, long and flexuous. Leaves 3-5 inches long, 

 clothed with a stellate pubescence when young, nearly smooth when old ; the petioles about 

 half an inch long. Flowers usually three together, proceeding from a bud-like pubescent 

 involucre, which is supported on a short axillary peduncle. Calyx (and bracteoles) pubescent; 

 the segments recurved. Petals about three-fourths of an inch long and scarcely a line wide, 

 somewhat crisped, in the bud spirally involute. Fertile stamens much shorter than the sterile 

 ones : anlhers adnate, introrse ; the cells rather distant, opening on the side by vertical valves. 

 Sterile stamens flat, wedge-shaped, truncate. Capsule roundish-ovoid, hard and almost 

 woody, the lower half invested by the persistent calyx, the upper half naked, bursting trans- 

 versely to the dissepiment and through the short recurved beaks into two valves, and at length 

 also the valves are 2-cleft : endocarp separating from the exocarp, and enclosing the seed, 

 finally siiliiting Icngihwise into two valves, black and glossy inside. Seeds narrowly oblong, 

 smooth. Embryo large, flat, in the axis of thin fleshy albumen : cotyledons oval, veined. 



Borders of moist woods, and banks of rivers. Fl. End of October - November. The fruit 

 ripens about September the following year. The flowers begin to open just before or after 

 the fall of the leaves ; rarely in the spring. As Nuttall suspected, Dr. Darlington found the 

 flowers to be frequently polygamous. — It is hardly necessary to state, that the popular belief 

 of this plant having the power of indicating the presence of water and ores, is utterly without 

 foundation. 



