Hamamelis L. (1753), Witch-Hazel, in the family Hamamelidaceae, contains
4 species and many garden hybrids, called witch hazels. All of them originate in China, Japan, or North America.

Description Shrubs or small trees to 11m, with grey bark and brown, velvety buds. The leaves are deciduous, alternate, and hazel-like (Corylus), with parallel veins, asymmetric at the base, colouring well in autumn. The flowers are scented, in clusters on short shoots, usually on bare stems in late autumn, winter, or early spring. The sepals are 4, the petals 4, linear, curled in bud and in frosty weather, pale yellow to orange and red. Nectar-bearing staminodes are 4; stamens are 4, very short. The ovary is 2-celled, with 2 styles. Pollination is by insects. The fruits are velvety, hard,
4-lobed, splitting open to eject 2 hard, shining black seeds.

Key Recognition Features The hazel-like leaves (Corylus) in summer with dull brown, velvety buds, and the yellow or red flowers with ribbon-like petals in winter.

Evolution and Relationships Similar to other members of the family in leaf and capsule, but very different in flower. Hamamelis shows the typical distribution of an ancient genus, with similar species in both eastern Asia and eastern North America. The diversity of flower types in the family and the scattered distribution of many of the genera suggest that this is an ancient family, probably ancestral to catkin-bearing genera such as Corylus on one side, but also close to the Rosaceae.

Ecology and Geography In woods, often by streams. In eastern North America H. vernalis Sarg. is confined to the Ozark plateau in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, while the autumn-flowering H. virginiana L. is common from Quebec and Ontario to Florida and Texas. In Asia H. japonica Sieb. & Zucc. is found throughout Japan, H. mollis Oliver in China from eastern Sichuan to Hubei and Jiangxi.

Comment Witch hazels are among the best winter-flowering shrubs, either in light woodland or as specimens on a sheltered, partly shaded lawn. The bark and leaves of H. virginiana are the source of the distilled witch hazel of medicine, used to reduce the swelling of bruises and swollen veins.