Hamamelis vernalis
Common Name: Vernal Witch hazel
Family: Hamamelidaceae

NATIVE

Essex, CT

Audubon, Glastonbury, CT

Plant is Native to: Missouri to Louisiana and Oklahoma.
Plant Height at maturity: 6 to 10 feet high, wider than this at maturity.
Plant Habit and Form: mounded, rounded, suckers colonize. Medium growth rate and
Foliage: 2 to 5 inch long leaf, reddish-purple new growth, medium green in summer, turns yellow in fall. Alternate, simple, obovate to oblong-ovate, with coarsely dentated edges and pointed apex.
Bark: Gray to grayish brown color.

Essex, CT

Flower: Yellow to red, ½ inch to ¾ inch across with 4 petals, born on cyme. Inner calyx surface is red, while petals are yellow. Bloom January to March, for 3 to 4 weeks, depending on location. Have pungent fragrance.

Essex, CT

Glastonbury, CT

Fruit/Seed: Green-yellow to brown capsule, with 2 valves; splits in September-October, expelling the black seeds.
Growing Requirements: Grows naturally on gravelly stream banks, therefore prefers moist soils. Sun to ¾ shade; pH adaptable, is tolerant of high pH (more so than H. virginiana). Somewhat difficult to transplant, so best to use potted or balled and burlapped plant; cut back roots for root development. Zones 4 to 8.
Problems and Drawbacks: Holds some of its leaves through winter, which makes it look forlorn, and hides flowers in spring.
Special Uses: Good for naturalizing, massing or grouping. Tolerates dry or moist soils, is quite tough. Provides good early color, and late fall leaf color.
ID Tips/Remarks: Has smallest flower of the Hamamelis species; blooms in late winter, flower has pungent fragrance. Holds leaves through winter.
Bibliography:
Dirr, Michael A. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, 1998 Stipes Publishing, Champaigne, IL
Dirr, Michael A. Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs, 1997, Timber Press Inc, Portland, OR
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Plants/h/hamver/hamver1.html