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buttercup winterhazel Hamamelidaceae Corylopsis pauciflora Siebold & Zucc. Listen to the Latin Print a QR link to this factsheet symbol:
Leaf: Alternate, simple, broadly ovate, cordate base, 2 to 3 inches long, bristly serrated, sunken veins give the leaf a wrinkled appearance, dark green to blue-green above, paler beneath.
Flower: Attractive, pastel yellow, 1/2 inch long, in hanging clusters (1 to 2 inches long) of 3 to 5 flowers, appear before the leaves in early spring.
Fruit: Small, dry, 2-valved capsule.
Twig: Slender, glabrous, reddish brown, speckled in lighter lenticels; buds large, ovate, pointed.
Bark: Light gray-brown, smooth, becoming a bit scaly with age.
Form: A many branched, widely spreading, small shrub up to 6 feet in height.
 Looks like: fragrant winterhazel - Chinese winterhazel - dwarf fothergilla

buttercup winterhazel leaf image
buttercup winterhazel flower image
buttercup winterhazel fruit image
buttercup winterhazel twig image
buttercup winterhazel bark image
buttercup winterhazel form image
buttercup winterhazel map image

Additional Range Information: Corylopsis pauciflora is planted in the USDA hardiness zones shown above and is not known to widely escape cultivaton. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links:
All material 2025 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information