144 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



one which, by its size, and frequent occurrence in wet meadows, is likely 

 to attract the notice of the farmer. It is a mere weed, but not difficult 

 to get rid of, by draining and proper attention. The Heuchera Ameri- 

 cana, L., or Alum-root — a plant belonging to this order, is frequent 

 along fence-rows and borders of rich woodlands, — and its astringent 

 root has been of some notoriety as an Indian remedy for cancerous sores : 

 but it is scarcely of sufficient prominence, on the farm, to command the 

 attention of the Agriculturist. 



Okder XXXII. HAMAMELA'CEJE. (Witch-hazel Family.) 



Shrubs or trees with alternate, simple leaves, deciduous stipules and polygamous or mo- 

 nsecious powers in heads or spikes. Calyx cohering with the base of the ovary. Pistils 

 2, united below. Fruit a 2-beaked 2-celled woody pod, opening at the summit with one 

 or two bony seeds in each cell ; embryo large in a sparing albumen ; petals sometimes 

 wanting. 



* Flowers with calyx and corolla, and a single ovule suspended from the 

 summit of each cell. 



1. HAMAME'LIS, L. Witch-hazel. 



[Greek, Hatm, like to, and Metis, an apple tree ; application not obvious.] 



Flowers in little axillary clusters, with an involucre of 3 scale-like leaf- 

 lets ; calyx 4-parted, with 2-3 bractlets at base. Petals 4, long and 

 linear. Stamens 8, very short ; the 4 alternate with the petals having 

 anthers, the others imperfect and scale-like. Capsule opening loculicid- 

 ally from the top ; the outer coat separating from the inner, which en- 

 closes the large and bony seed in each cell, but soon bursts elastically 

 into two pieces. 



1, H. Virgin'ica, L. Leaves obovate or oval, sinuate-dentate, sub- 

 cordate at base, stellately pubescent. 

 Virginian Hamamelis. Witch-hazel. 



stem 6-12 feet high, with straggling flexuose branches. Leaves 2-6 inches long; 

 petioles &\>o\ii half an inch in length. Flowers greenish-yellow, clustered in threes, on a 

 common peduncle near half an inch long ; petals narrow, linear, a little crisped, about ^ 

 of an inch in length. Sexds black and shining. 



Damp woods. Fl. October, the fruit perfecting in the September following. 



Ohs. This shrub is worthy of cultivation by the curious, on account of 

 the singular lateness of its flowers, which appear at the time v/hen most 

 trees are shedding their leaves. The flowers are often seen as late as 

 November, when the leaves have all fallen. It is said to grow readily 

 in a moist situation. The twigs of the Witch-hazel were used in the days 

 of superstition and witchcraft as divining rods, to indicate the position 

 of hidden springs of water or deposits of precious ores, — a belief in their 

 efficacy is not even now wholly extinct. * 



** Flowers naked, with barely the rudiments of a calyx, and no corolla^ 

 crowded in catkin-like heads. Ovules several or many in each cell. 



