_Hamamelis virginiana_
_Flowers_--Yellow, fringy, clustered in the axils of branches. Calyx
4-parted; 4 very narrow curving petals about 3/4 in. long; 4 short
stamens, also 4 that are scale-like; 2 styles. _Stem_: A tall, crooked
shrub. _Leaves_: Broadly oval, thick, wavy-toothed, mostly fallen at
flowering time. _Fruit_: Woody capsules maturing the next season and
remaining with flowers of the succeeding year (_Hama_ = together with;
_mela_ = fruit).
The literature of Europe is filled with allusions to the witch-hazel,
which, however, is quite distinct from our shrub. Swift wrote:
“They tell us something strange and odd
About a certain magic rod
That, bending down its top divines
Where’er the soil has hidden mines;
Where there are none, it stands erect
Scorning to show the least respect.”
A good story is told on Linnaeus in Baring-Gould’s “Curious Myths of
the Middle Ages”: “When the great botanist was on one of his voyages,
hearing his secretary highly extol the virtues of his divining-wand,
he was willing to convince him of its insufficiency, and for that
purpose concealed a purse of one hundred ducats under a ranunculus,
which grew by itself in a meadow, and bid the secretary find it if he
could. The wand discovered nothing, and Linnaeus’s mark was soon
trampled down by the company present, so that when he went to finish
the experiment by fetching the gold himself, he was utterly at a loss
where to find it. The man with the wand assisted him, and informed him
that it could not lie in the way they were going, but quite the
contrary; so they pursued the direction of the wand, and actually dug
out the gold. Linnaeus said that another such experiment would be
sufficient to make a proselyte of him.”
Many a well has been dug even in this land of liberty where our
witch-hazel indicated; but here its kindly magic is directed chiefly
through the soothing extract distilled from its juices. Its yellow,
thread-like blossoms are the latest to appear in the autumn woods.