HAMAMELIDACEtE— WITCH HAZEL 

 FAMILY 



WITCH HAZEL 



Hamamehs virginictna. 



Hamamelis is a name anciently applied to a tree which blos- 

 somed at the same time as the apple tree. Witch is a modern 

 spelling of the Saxon wich or wyc/i. The meaning of the word 

 in this connection is doubtful ; Loudon refers it to salt springs, 

 moist places ; other authorities think it means pendulous, droop- 

 ing. Two trees are so named — the wych elm and the wych hazel. 



A shrub of numerous diverging stems ten to fifteen feet high, be- 

 coming a small tree only on the mountains of North and South 

 Carolina and Tennessee. Found in deep ravines, north shaded hill- 

 sides and at the edge of woodlands. Roots fibrous. 



Bark — Light brown, smooth, scaly, inner bark reddish purple. 

 . Branchlets at first scurfy ; later smooth, light orange brown, marked 

 with occasional small white dots, finally dark or reddish brown. 



Wood. — Light reddish brown, sapwood nearly white ; heavy, 

 hard, close-giained. Sp. gr., 0.6856 ; weight of cu. ft., 42.72 lbs. 



Winter Buds. — Acute, slightly falcate, downy, light brown. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, obovate or oval, four to six inches 

 long, unequal at base, wavy-toothed, acute or rounded at apex. 

 Feather-veined; midrib stout with si.x to seven pairs of primary 

 veins. They come out of the bud involute, covered with stellate 

 rusty down ; Avhen full growti are dark green above, paler beneath ; 

 midrib and veins more or less hairy. In autumn they turn yellow 

 with rusty spots. Petioles stout, half an inch to an inch long. 

 Stipules lanceolate, acute, infolding the buds. 



Flowers. — October, November. Llsually perfect, yellow, borne 

 in three-flowered clusters on axillary, simple or rarely branched 

 peduncles bearing two deciduous bractlets, each flower surrounded 



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