THE WITCH HAZEL AND THE SWEET GUM - FAMILY HAMAMELIDACEAE. Trees with slender twigs and fibrous roots. Leaves simple, opposite, deciduous. Flowers with parts in four's, perfect or unisexual. Fruits woody 2-valved, 1, to 2-seeded capsules.
KeY TO GENERA AND SPECIES A. Leaves obovate, unequal at base; flowers perfect, autumnal.
I. Genus HAMAMELIS, Linn.
(H. Virginiana) WITCH HAZEL AA. Leaves star shaped, symmetrical at base; flowers monce cious, staminate in terminal racemes, pistillate in axillary long-stalked heads, in early summer.
2. Genus LIQUIDAMBAR, Linn.
(L. Styraciflua) SWEET GUM The relationship of the witch hazel and sweet gum is not obvious to the general observer. In fact, the common characters are such as only the keen eye of the botanist detects. The t horned woody capsules joined together in the sweet gum seed ball is morphologically the same type as the solitary woody 2 lipped seed capsule of the witch hazel.
Eighteen genera compose the subtropical family, Hamame lidacew. Two genera, each with a single species, are native to North America. There are two or three species of Hamamelis in Eastern Asia. The four species of Liquidambar include one Mexican and two Asiatic species beside our own sweet gum.
x. Genus HAMAMELIS, Linn.
The Witch Hazel (Hamamelis Virginiana, Linn.)—A small tree, or usually a stout shrub, rarely 25 feet high. Bark light brown, scaly or smooth. Wood close grained, hard, heavy, brownish red, with thick, white sap wood. Buds sickle shaped, pale brown, hairy, enclosed in leafy stipules. Leaves alternate, unsymmetrical, strongly veined, oval or obovate, wavy margined, or coarsely serrate, 4 to 6 inches long, rusty-hairy at first, yellow in autumn, often hanging all winter. Flowers in autumn, clus tered, greenish, with 4 yellow ribbon-like petals. Fruits ripe in autumn, a 2-beaked, 2-celled, woody capsule that opens ex plosively; seeds, 2, black, shiny. Preferred habitat, low, rich soil or rocky stream banks. Distribution, Nova Scotia to Nebraska, south to Florida and Eastern Texas. Uses: Valuable orna mental. Bark, twigs and leaves used in making extract for rubbing bruises.
There is nothing in the forest west of the Mississippi Valley that quite compensates the Easterner for the absence of the witch hazel, familiar to every lover of the woods in his half of the continent. Not that it is a very important tree, in any
practical sense, but it is an integral and familiar part of the woods it frequents, filling in the bare places with undergrowth and exhibiting interesting and unusual habits. It is the most inconspicuous tree in the woods in spring. Its opening leaves are coated with rusty hairs, which the botanist finds interesting because they branch into star-shaped tops. But to the casual observer these leaves look old and dingy, compared with the bright green foliage about. And no sign of bloom adorns the witch hazel while the impressive flower pageant is passing. Only the curious, lifting a branch and looking in the axils of last year's leaves, will see little curved stems each capped by a cluster of green-grey cups, dull from their winter's contact with the elements. On the newer shoots, and at the bases of leafy side spurs cluster tiny green balls no larger than pin heads. A few brown pods, dry and empty, drop to the ground, as the wind shakes the tree.
All through the summer the witch hazel tells its secrets only to the thoughtful and keen-eyed observer. The side branches send out twigs of varying lengths. The longest and thriftiest of these are near the extremity of the limb, where the best light is, and the most room. Here the broad leaves spread their faces toward the sun, and under them little green buttons assert them selves, rending apart the cups that easily contained them in spring.
Every tree has its supreme moment of beauty. This usually comes when the foliage is in its prime, or when the flower buds burst in spring. The witch hazel is an exception to all rules. When the crisp autumnal atmosphere warns all plant life to get ready for winter the witch hazel trees put a new construction on the message. As if by magic, all up and down through the woods they burst into bloom, each flower bravely flaunting four delicate petals like tiny yellow streamers. The woods are fairly sprinkled with these starry, gold-thread blossoms, and a rare fragrance breathes upon the languid October air. The ripening leaves second and intensify the colour of the flowers, which often thickly fringe the outstretched twigs, and cover up the green buttons.