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| Witch hazel 1-4-15 |
{Note:
Here is an update on witch hazel blooming from David Wiesenberg of The Wooster
Book Company:
It's never too early to anticipate spring. I went
over to the Arboretum today to look over the stand of black and sugar maple
trees in compartments D2 and D4 which I tap for sap and of course took a
general look and walk around. Last fall, I started looking for witch hazels in
bloom as a graduate student in entomology was hoping to gather its pollen to
fill in a database. In mid-October of last year, I noticed that a few small
witch hazel plants (Hamamelis virginiana)
were blooming along the blacktop path by the slide and play area. I sent my
friend a note of head's up.
In any event, witch hazel was on my mind this winter
and I saw a few blooms right at the base of a different species of witch hazel
(H. vernalis) along the path between
the entrance pavilion and the Nault pond on Christmas day. As you can see, more
have sprung. Now my goal will be to see one of the woody capsules catapult its
seeds.
As a post script, I might mention that many of the
witch hazels that are sold commercially are often hybrid crosses with Asian
species. The one in our backyard, for example, doesn't look typical of either H. virginiana or H.vernalis.
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