 |
||
 |
||
 |
• HOME • GENERAL STORE • NATURAL HERITAGE • HISTORY, CULTURE & CRAFTSMANSHIP |
||||
|
Natural Heritage
• Trees & Shrubs of the Ozarks |
|||||
| Trees & Shrubs Index • Oak • Hickory • Loblolly Pine • Osage-orange • Sumac • Sassafras • Persimmon • Mulberry • Catalpa • Red cedar • Walnut • Dogwood • Redbud • Witch Hazel • Crape Myrtle • Mimosa Natural Heritage Index • Fishing • Hunting • Camping • Conservation • Hills & Hollows • Rivers & Lakes • Springs • Caves • Rocks & Fossils • Trees & Shrubs • Plants & Herbs • Hill Critters • Flyin' Critters • Water Critters • Snakes & Such • Forgotten Critters |
|||
The sun is setting, nearly behind the ridge.
The creek, cold and surprisingly deep, is speaking softly, playing around amid the rocks.
There is a chill in the air.
It’s February in the Ozarks.
Spring is just around the corner. Right in front of you.
Do you see it?
The unprepossessing shrub hanging over the creek?
Its leaves are brown and crumpled. The branches looking surprisingly like hazel brush.
And there, tiny, strange blossoms smaller than your thumbnail. It’s the herald of the Ozarks spring.
Witch hazel.
— by Joshua Heston
February 20, 2010
________
Witch Hazel (Hamemelis virginiana)
Size: 5 to 15 feet tall; leaves 4 to 6 inches long.
What to look for:leaves asymetrical at base, with coarse, rounded teeth; flowers yellow, clustered, with narrow, twisted petals (late fall [in northern climates]).
Habitat: bottomlands, forests, streambanks.
— page 323, Wernett, Susan J., et al. North American Wildlife. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1986.
______________
Hamamelis virginiana photo plates
Plate 1, Elevent Point riverbank, Oregon County, Missouri, 02/18/09. Plates 2 through 4, Rocky Creek, Shannon County, Missouri, 02/20/09.
