Picture of the Day: Late bloomer

It was cold and overcast yesterday as Larry D, Kathy S and I did our quarterly monitoring hike up Grassy Hill’s Birding and Wildlife Trail. A few birds were active, but little else until, lo and behold, there by the creek witch-hazel hamamelis virginiana L. was in fragrant bloom!

witch-hazel hamamelis virginiana L.

This native shrub has bright yellow, spidery blossoms which appear in mid- to late fall. The witch-hazel fruit is a woody, brown capsule which contains two shiny black seeds. The capsules go dormant over the winter and don’t mature until the end of the next growing season. At that point, seeds are shot out forcibly when the capsule splits open, often going 10-20 feet from the shrub. The patient plant then takes up to one year to germinate.

To find out more about witch-hazel, visit the Department of Forestry at

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/hamamelis_virginiana.shtml