144 - WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 
~. which, by its size, ana frequent panei a wet meadows, is likely 
ttract the notice of the farmer. It is e weed, but not eee 
oat rid of, by cepa he and dy ed sitentibe "The Heuchera Am 
t—a pl longing to this onder, is fren 
nds,— its as 
cana, ., or nt 
along fence-rows fod borders of rich w en tringent 
root has been of some notoriety as an India remedy $606 ancerous sores : 
t it is is scarcely of sufficient — ioe the farm, to command the 
attention of the Agriculturist 
Oxper XXXII. HAMAMELA’CE®. (Wrrownaze Fay.) 
Shrubs or trees with alternate, simple leaves, deciduous stipules and Abana or mo- 
nzcious “gas in heads or spikes. Calyx cohering w barg the base of the ovary. Pistils 
2, united below. Fruit a 2-beaked 2-celled woody pc — one 
or le bony seeds in sat ‘cell ; ; embryo large in a seats albumen ; 3; petals so) mes 
ing. 
* geen with calyx and Dotter and a@ single ovule suspended from the 
summit of each cell. 
1. HAMAME’LIS, L. Wrren-nazen. 
[Greek, Hama, like to, and Melis, an apple tree ; application not obvious.] 
Flowers in little axillary clusters, with an involuere of 3 scalelike leaf- 
lets; calyx 4-parted, wi th 2-3 bractlets at base. Pet als 4, long and 
— ge oh 8, 2 very short; the 4 alternate with the petals Sosiad 
, th imperfect an nd scalelike. Ca apsule © openine loculicid- 
ally from the Sop ; the outer coat separating from the inner, which en- 
closes the large and bony seed i in each cell, but soon a elastically. 
into two pieces. 
1. H. Virgin’ica, LE. Leaves obovate or oval, sinuate-dentate, sub- 
cordate at base, stellately pubescent. 
Virerian Hamamesis, Witch-hazel. 
Stem 6-12 feet high, with straggling’ flexuose branches. Leaves 2-6 inches long ; 
petioles about half an inch in length. Flowers gare ateiccara yellow, seta * threes, - a 
near half an inch long ; petals narrow, linear, a little crisped, a te 
of an ma in length. Seeds black and ‘etme. 
Damp woods. Fl. October, the fruit perfecting in the September following. 
Obs. This shrub is worthy of cultivation by the curious, on account of 
the — lateness a its eo —* which appear at the time when gp 
trees a ir lea The flowers are often seen as la’ 
November, bist the heaved hav all sane It is said to grow my readlliy® 
tion. The twigs of the W ch-haeel vere used thy Tiss day 
of Sete and — craft as divining ro to indicate the position” 
of hidden springs of water or deposits of precious ores,—a belief in ‘thea 
efficacy is not even now whale extinct. 
5 Flowers naked, wi th barely the rudimenis 2 ss ae 
founded 3 in catkin-like heads. Ovules se or many in each cell. 
