WITCH HAZEL (Hamamelis Virginiana, Linn.). Shrub to 25 feet. Short trunk and loose, spreading head of small, zig zag branches. Bark brown, scaly, smooth. Wood close grained, heavy, hard, brownish-red. Leaves oval or obovate, unsymmetrical, wavy-margined, strongly veined, sometimes coarsely toothed, 4 to 6 inches long, rusty-hairy at first. Flowers in late autumn, small, clustered, faintly fragrant, with 4 narrow, long, yellow petals that persist all winter. Fruit,
ripe in autumn, a woody, 2-celled capsule size of a large pea opening explosively to discharge 2 black seeds. Dist.: Nova Scotia to Nebraska; south to Florida and Texas. Bark, twigs, and leaves macerated to make a medicinal extract.