Shrub to 2 m high. Leaves ovate to elliptic, dark green above, blue-green below with about 5 vein pairs; colouring orange in autumn. Flowers with petals more or less orange at the base; winter.

North America

Grows naturally along river banks. Rarely cultivated in SE Australia.

NSW: Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah. VIC: Dandenongs ('Pirianda').

 

H. japonica Siebold & Zucc., Japanese Witch Hazel, is occasionally grown and differs mainly in the broadly ovate leaves with 6-7 vein pairs; the cultivar 'Zuccariniana' has late pale yellow flowers with sepals that are green inside.

NSW: Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah

Source: Spencer, R. (1997). Hamamelidaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.