Hamamelis

Shrubs or small trees, suckering or bearing stolons, not aromatic and resinous; twigs, young leaves, and flower buds stellate-pubescent. Bark gray to gray-brown, smooth or slightly roughened. Dormant buds naked, stellate-pubescent; terminal bud and 1 of each pair of lateral buds stalked, with 2 subtending scales. Leaves short-petiolate. Leaf blade broadly elliptic to obovate, pinnately veined, base oblique, cuneate, margins repand to sinuate, apex rounded to acute or short-acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, (1-)3(-5)-flowered, stalked clusters. Flowers bisexual, appearing before or with leaves; calyx lobes 4, reflexed, adnate to ovary; petals 4, yellow or orange to deep red, liguliform, circinnate in bud, notched or truncate, sometimes pointed; stamens 4, very short within cup; anthers introrse, dehiscing by 2 valves hinged adaxially on connective; staminodes 4, opposite petals, bearing nectar; styles 2, subulate, spreading to recurved. Capsules solitary or 2-3 together, fused with persistent tubular calyx, stylar beaks very short, loculicidally 2-valved, woody, appressed stellate-pubescent, explosively dehiscent. Seeds 2 per capsule, black, glossy, bony, not winged. x = 12.

Distribution

Temperate regions, e North America, e Asia.

Discussion

Species 4 (2 in the flora).

In Hamamelis, the explosively dehiscent capsules may eject the seeds to 10 m. The Japanese species H. japonica Siebold & Zuccarini, with reddish to yellow flowers, suggests an affinity with H. vernalis. Both Asian species, H. japonica and H. mollis Oliver of China, and the hybrid H. ×intermedia Rehder (= H. japonica × H. mollis), with a number of cultivars, are widely cultivated.

Selected References

Bradford, J. L. and D. L. Marsh. 1977. Comparative studies of the witch hazels Hamamelis virginiana and H. vernalis. Proc. Arkansas Acad. Sci. 31: 29-31.

Fulling, E. H. 1953. American witch hazel--History, nomenclature, and modern utilization. Econ. Bot. 7(4): 359-389.

Jenne, G. E. 1966. A Study of Variation in North American Hamamelis L. (Hamamelidaceae). M.S. thesis. Vanderbilt University.

Sargent, C. S. [1902-]1905-1913. Trees and Shrubs.... 2 vols. Boston and New York. Vol. 2, pp. 137-138.

Sargent, C. S. 1890-1902. The Silva of North America.... 14 vols. Boston and New York. Vol. 5, pp. 3-5.

Shoemaker, D. N. 1905. On the development of Hamamelis virginiana. Bot. Gaz. 39: 248-266.

Steven, D. 1983. Floral ecology of witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana). Michigan Bot. 22(4): 163-171.

Steyermark, J. A. 1934. Hamamelis virginiana in Missouri. Rhodora 36: 97-100.

Steyermark, J. A. 1963. Flora of Missouri. Ames.

Lower Taxa

Hamamelis vernalis, Hamamelis virginiana

Key

1	Flowers appearing in autumn, faintly fragrant; petals pale to deep yellow, rarely reddish, 10–20 mm; staminodes conspicuously dilated; leaves not persistent in winter, blade broad-elliptic to nearly rounded or obovate, base strongly oblique and rounded, sometimes somewhat cuneate, surfaces abaxially pale green, not glaucous; plants suckering.	Hamamelis virginiana
1	Flowers appearing in winter, distinctly fragrant; petals reddish or deep red to orange, occasionally yellow, 7–10 mm; staminodes not dilated or slightly so; leaves often persistent in winter, blade mostly obovate, base narrowed to somewhat cuneate, rarely rounded, weakly oblique, surfaces often abaxially glaucous; plants stoloniferous	Hamamelis vernalis