Joining the Dutch East India Company as a physician naturalist, he made his first trip to Japan in 1822.
Japanese witch hazel ( Hamamelis japonica) was first introduced to Europe by Philipp Franz von Siebold, a German doctor and naturalist. The genus Hamamelis is comprised of four species, two native to the United States and one each from China and Japan. As has been the case with other genera, this rise in popularity has resulted from the successful introduction of hybrid selections. Although witch hazel cultivars, especially those derived from the two American species, are more common on the East Coast, they have become increasingly popular among West Coast landscape professionals. The sheer diversity, beauty, and all-season appeal of witch hazels have put them near the top of the list of valuable garden shrubs. The climax to this show comes with the fruit: two-parted capsules, each about a half inch long and containing a single glossy black seed, split open with such explosive force that seeds land as much as thirty feet away. What distinguishes witch hazels in the plant world is that flowers, fruits, and next year’s leaf buds can manifest simultaneously on the plants indeed, the generic name Hamamelis translates as “together with fruit.” Some witch hazels put on a fall color show, their foliage aging from butter yellow to orange, finally turning scarlet before falling exhausted to the ground. Just maybe, you think, immersed in the sublime winter luminosity of a witch hazel, spring is not that far off. Then your olfactory senses are treated to an intoxicating citrus scent. As the sun illuminates these tiny fists, suddenly wispy fingers unfurl in response to the new warmth: the shrub’s spidery flowers burst forth along the branches like tiny sulfur flames. You come across a small tree, barren of leaves but possessing a great multitude of curious golden yellow tufts. The sun is just peeking through the overhanging branches of a magnolia. Imagine walking into your garden on a frosty midwinter morning. The vase-like shape of Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’.
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