Hamamelis
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Read about Hamamelis in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Hamamelis (Greek, hama, together, and melon, apple or fruit: fruits and flowers at the same time). Hamamelidaceae. Witch-hazel. Ornamental woody plants chiefly grown for their yellow flowers appearing late in autumn or in the winter. Deciduous shrubs or small trees; stellate-pubescent: lvs. alternate, short-petioled, stipulate, sinuate-dentate: fls. in short-peduncled, nodding, axillary, few-fld. clusters, perfect; calyx 4-parted; petals 4, linear, crumpled; stamens 4, very short, alternating with 4 scale-like staminodes; styles 2, short: fr. a dehiscent,woody, 2-celled caps., with 2 shining black seeds. The seeds are shot out with considerable force.—Four species, 2 in E. N. Amer. and 2 in China and Japan. Occasionally writers spell the common name "wych hazel," but there seems to be little historical reason for it. Witch, as used in witch-hazel and witch-elm, is probably allied to "weak," referring to a drooping or straggling habit. The witch-hazels are hardy ornamental shrubs with medium-sized generally ovate or obovate leaves and yellow flowers with strap-shaped spreading petals in axillary clusters appearing late in fall or in the winter and followed by capsular fruits. Hamamelis virginiana is perfectly hardy North, and the other species have proved hardy at least at the Arnold Arboretum. They are valuable on account of their blooming at a time when hardly any other shrub outdoors is in flower. H. japonica, H. mollis, and H. vernalis are the only truly winter-blooming shrubs in northern latitudes and are striking objects in the wintry landscape with then- bright yellow flowers which are not injured even if the temperature goes down to zero. They are well adapted for shrubberies; of compact, bushy habit and with handsome foliage, turning bright yellow, orange or purple in fall. They thrive best in somewhat moist, peaty and sandy soil. The Japanese species likes a more sunny position than the American, and is less moisture- loving. Propagation is by seeds, which do not germinate until the second year, or by layers; rarer kinds also by grafting on seedlings of H. virginiana in spring in the greenhouse.
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References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
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