WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY 



HAMAMELIDACEAE 



WITCH-HAZEL 



Hamamelis I'irginiana L. 



The Witch-hazel family is relatively small and made up 

 entirely of trees and shrubs. An extract distilled from the 

 branches of this species is marketed as a remedy for sprains, 



bruises and the like, 

 or as an astringent. 



The Witch-hazel is a 

 shrub with a maximum 

 height of 25 feet, and is 

 usually much smaller. 

 It likes damp woods, in 

 which it may be found 

 J il ^^\^ ^^ / ^f^/MMi^^ from Nova Scotia to 

 =X\\ r^ ^^"""'^^■Ov / STW^ Florida and from Minne- 

 sota to Texas. 



This plant is unique 

 among shrubs because it 

 blooms in late autumn 

 and the fruits mature a 

 year later. The persis- 

 tent calyx is 4-parted 

 and grown fast to the 

 lower part of the ovary. 

 The 4 yellow, long and i 

 narrow petals also per- * 

 sist a long time. There are 8 stamens, 4 perfect alternating 

 with the petals and 4 imperfect and scalelike. The pistil con- 

 sists of a 2-celled ovary and 2 short styles. The fruit is a "woody 

 capsule containing 2 seeds. 



The capsules are ripe about the time the next crop of flowers 

 appears. If they are collected in September or October and kept 

 indoors they dry out and at length burst with a snap, discharg- 

 ing the seeds often more than 20 feet. 



The Sweet Gum or Bilsted, Liquidambar Styraciflua L., is the 

 other of the two members of the family found in Illinois. This 

 is a large and- beautiful tree in the swampy woods of the south, 

 known for its star-pointed, 5-7-lobed leaves and fragrant sap. It 

 is found only in swampy woods along the Atlantic coast and the 

 Gulf, up the Mississippi basin to Illinois and Missouri. 



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