WITCH-HAZEL 
Hamamelis virginiana Linnaeus 
In late autumn, when the leaves have nearly all fallen, and all 
other flowers long since have faded, the witch-hazel comes into 
bloom. 
For now the gray witch-hazel gives her flowers, 
Her tiny blooms, that sweeten all the air, 
To greet November's sun and chilly showers, 
With something dainty, hardy, sweet and fair. 
Elusive, drifting, cool and vaguely sweet, 
It gives the day a meaning all its own, 
November’s incense, as she comes to meet 
The winter, when all flower scents have flown. 
L. CiaubeE. 
The dainty pale yellow flowets sprawl] from the axils of the yellow 
tinted leaves, and sometimes open even after the last leaf has fallen. 
The fruits do not ripen until almost a year has passed. Then the hard 
dry seeds are shot from the slowly splitting capsules to a distance of 
many yards from the parent plant. Witch-hazel was named by the 
early colonists from a fancied resemblance to another plant known 
to them in western Europe, and much of the folk-lore connected 
with the latter was transferred with the name. The twigs ate sup- 
posed to possess occult powets when in the hands of persons capable 
of interpreting the movements, and to reveal the presence of water 
or mineral deposits. Witch-hazel is used in medicine, because of the 
soothing properties of the distilled extract. 
The witch-hazels belong to a small plant family distantly related 
to the roses. The species here described is found from Florida north- 
watd to Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Minnesota. A relative that grows 
from Louisiana to Missouri blooms in earliest spring. 
The specimens painted grew near Washington, District of Colum- 
bia. 
PLATE 323 
