| Hamamelis mollis | |
|---|---|
| Flowers | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Core eudicots |
| Order: | Saxifragales |
| Family: | Hamamelidaceae |
| Genus: | Hamamelis |
| Species: | H. mollis |
| Binomial name | |
| Hamamelis mollis Oliv. |
|
Hamamelis mollis is a species of witch-hazel native to central and eastern China, in Anhui, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, and Zhejiang.[1]
It is a deciduous large shrub or small tree growing to 8 m tall. The leaves are oval, 8-15 cm long and 6-10 cm broad, oblique at the base, acute or rounded at the apex, with a wavy-toothed or shallowly lobed margin, and a short petiole 6-10 mm long; they are dark green and thinly hairy above, and grey beneath with dense grey hairs. The flowers are yellow, with four ribbon-shaped petals 15 mm long and four short stamens, and grow in clusters; flowering is in late winter to early spring. The fruit is a hard woody capsule 12 mm long, which splits explosively at the apex at maturity one year after pollination, ejecting the two shiny black seeds from the parent plant.[1]
It is widely grown as an ornamental plant, valued for the strongly scented flowers. Numerous cultivars have been selected, for variation in flower colour and size, and in shrub size and habit.[2]