WITCH HAZEL FAMILY 



Wood. — Blight reddish brown, sapwood nearly v.hite ; heavy> 

 straight, satiny, close-grained, not strong ; will take a beaiitilul pol- 

 ish ; warps badly in drying. Has been used with good resulis in 

 the interior finish of sleeping cars and fine houses. The wood is 

 usually cut in veneers ami backed up with some other \ariety which 

 shrinks and warps less. Sp. gr., 05910; weight of cu. ft., 36.83 

 lbs. 



U7/thr Biiiis. — Yellow brown, one-fourth of an inch long, acute. 

 The inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot, becoming hall an 

 inch long, green tipped with red. 



Loaves. — Alternate, three to fi\e inches long, three to seven inches 

 broad, lobed, so as to make a star-shaped leaf of ri\ e to se\en divis- 

 ions, these divisions acutely pointed, with glandular serrate teeth. 

 The base is truncate or slightly heart-shaped. They come out of 

 the bud plicate, downy, pale green, when lull grown are bright 

 green, smooth, shining above, paler beneath. In autumn they vary 

 in color from yellow through crimson to purple. They contain tan- 

 nin and when bruised give a resinous fragrance. Petioles long, 

 slender, terete. Stipules lanceolate, acute, caducous. 



Flo7V09's. — March to May, when ]ea\es are half grown ; monceci- 

 ous, greenish. Staminate flowers in terminal racemes two to tliree 

 inches long, covered with rusty hairs ; the pistillate in a solitary 

 head on a slender peduncle borne in the a.xil of an upper leaf. Stam- 

 inate flowers destitute of caly.x and corolla, but surrounded by hairy 

 bracts. Stamens indefinite ; filaments short ; anthers introrse. 

 Pistillate flowers with a two-celled, t\.o- 

 beaked ovarv-, the carpels produced into a 

 long, recurved, persistent style. The ova- 

 ries all more or less cohere and harden in 

 fruit. Ovules man\" but fcvv mature. 



Fiiiit. — Multicapsular spherical head, an 

 inch to an inch and a half in diameter, 

 hangs on the branches during the winter. 

 The woody c.ipsules mostly filled with abor- 

 tive seeds resembling sawdust. 



The starry rive-puintetl leaves of the 

 Liqiiidambar sug-gest the Sugar Maple, 

 and its fruit balls as thev hang upon 

 their long stems resemlile those of the 

 Buttonwood. The distinguishing mark 

 of the tree, however, is the peculiar 

 appearance of its small brandies and 

 twigs. The bark attaches itself to 

 these in plates edgewise instead of laterally, and a piece of 

 the leafless branch with the aid of a little imagination readily 



162 



Section of 3 Twig of Sweet 

 Gum Stiowing ttie Corlty 

 Wings of tile Bark. 



