282 LXVI. HAMAMELACE^E. HAMAMELIS. 



in gardens. Height 4 5f. Leaves very large. Sterile flowers with roundish 

 sepals, dull white, becoming reddish, very showy, f 



3. H. HORTENSIS. Changeable Hydrangea. Lvs. elliptical, narrowed at each 

 end, dentate-serrate, strongly veined, smooth ; cymes radiant ; Jls. mostly sterile. 

 Probably native of China, where it has long been cultivated. Stems 1 3f 

 high. Leaves large. Barren flowers very numerous and showy, at first green, 

 passing successively through straw-color, sulphur-yellow, white, purple, and 

 pink. The perfect flowers are central and much smaller. It thrives in large 

 pots of peat mixed with loam, abundantly watered. The flowers endure sever- 

 al months, f 



SUBORDER 4, P HIL.ADELPHEJS. 



Petals convolute in aestivation. Capsule 3 4-celled, loculicidal. Shrubs. 

 9. PHILADELPHIA. 



Name from Philadelphia, king of Egypt. 



Calyx 4 5-parted, half-superior, persistent : corolla 4 5-petaled ; 

 style 4-cleft ; stamens 20 40, shorter than the petals ; capsule 4- 

 celled, 4-valved, with loculicidal dehiscence ; seeds many, arilled. 

 Handsome flowering shrubs. Lvs, opposite, exstipulate. 



1. P. GRANDIFLORUS. Willd. (P. inodorus. Michx.) Large-flowered Syringa. 

 Lvs. ovate, acuminate, denticulate, 3-veined, axils of the veins hairy ; stig. 4, 

 linear ; sty. undivided. A very showy shrub, 6f high, native at the South, cul- 

 tivated in shrubberies. Branches smooth, long and slender. Flowers large, in 

 a terminal umbel of 2 or 3, white, nearly inodorous. Calyx divisions conspicu- 

 ously acuminate, and much longer than the tube. Jn. -The upper leaves are 

 often entire and quite narrow, f 



2. P. CORONARIUS. False Syringa. Lvs. ovate, subdentate, smooth ; sty. dis- 

 tinct. Native of S. Europe. A handsome shrub, often cultivated in our shrub- 

 beries. The flowers are numerous, white, showy, resembling those of the 

 orange both in form and fragrance, but are more powerful in the latter respect. 

 It grows 5 8f high, with opposite, smooth, ovate, stalked leaves, and opposite, 

 reddish twigs bearing leafy clusters of flowers, f 



ORDER LXVI. HAMAMELACE.E. 



Shrubs. Lvs. alternate, dentate, the veinlets running direct from the mid-vein to the margin. Stip.de- 



Cal. adherent to the ovary, 4-cleft. [ciduoua. 



Cor. Petals 4, linear. 



Sta. 8, those opposite the petals barren (or many and all fertile, with no petals.) 



Ova. 2-celled, ovules solitary. 



PV. Capsule coriaceous, the summit free from the calyx, 2-beaked, 2-celled. 



Genera 10, species 15, natives of N. America and Japan. No remarkable properties have been dis- 

 covered. 



HAMAMELIS. 



Gr. apa, with, jurjXoi', fruit; i. e. flowers and fruit together on the tree. 



Calyx 4-leaved or cleft, with an involucel of 23 bracts at base ; 

 petals 4, very long, linear ; sterile stamens scale-like, opposite the 

 petals, alternating with the 4 fertile ones ; capsule nut-like, 2-celled, 

 2-beaked. Shrubs or small trees. 



H. VIRGINIANA. Witch Hazel. 



Lvs. oval or obovate, acuminate, crenate-dontate, obliquely cordate at base, 

 on short petioles ; Jls. sessile, 3 4 together in an involucrate, axillary, subses- 

 sile glomerule. U. S. and Can. A large shrub, consisting of several crooked, 

 branching trunks from the same root, as large as the arm, and 10 12f high. 

 Leaves nearly smooth, 3 5' long, | as wide. Petioles 4' long. Calyx downy. 

 Petals yellow, curled or twisted, f long. Capsule woody, containing 2 nuts. 

 This curious shrub is not unfrequent in our forests, and amidst the reigning 



