HAMAMELIDACEiE— WITCH HAZEL 

 FAMILY 



WITCH HAZEL 



■' ■^ Hamamilis virginihna. 



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

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

 spelling of the Saxon wich or wych. 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-grained. 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 six to seven pairs of primary 

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

 rusty down ; when full grown are dark green above, paler beneath; 

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

 with rusty s^ots. Petioles stout, half an inch to an inch long. 

 Stipules lanceolate, acute, infolding the buds. 



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

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

 peduncles bearing two deciduous bractlets, each flower surrounded 



