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. Claude. 



The dainty pale yellow flowers 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 are sup- 

 posed to possess occult powers 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- 

 ward 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 32.3 



