Hamamelis mollis

{{Short description|Species of tree}}

{{Redirect|Chinese witch hazel|text="Chinese witch hazel" can also refer to Loropetalum chinense}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Hamamelis mollis0.jpg

| image_caption = Flowers

| genus = Hamamelis

| species = mollis

| authority = Oliv.

}}

{{Infobox Chinese

|title=Chinese name

|s=金缕梅

|t=金縷梅

|l="golden-thread plum"

|p=jīnlǚméi|showflag=p

|mi={{IPAc-cmn|j|in|1|.|l|ü|3|.|m|ei|2}}

|gr=jinleumei

|w=chin¹-lü³-mei²

|myr=jīnlyǔméi

|mps=jīnliǔméi

|bpmf=ㄐㄧㄣ   ㄌㄩˇ   ㄇㄟˊ

|y=gāmléuihmùih

|j=gam1leoi5mui4

}}

Hamamelis mollis, also known as Chinese witch hazel,{{cite book|title=RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants|year=2008|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-1405332965|pages=1136}} is a species of flowering plant in the witch hazel family Hamamelidaceae, native to central and eastern China, in Anhui, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, and Zhejiang.{{eFloras|2|200010554|Hamamelis mollis |family=Hamamelidaceae |first1=Zhi-Yun |last1=Zhang |first2=Hongda |last2=Zhang |first3=Peter K. |last3=Endress}}

It is a deciduous large shrub or small tree growing to {{cvt|8|m|ft|0}} tall. The leaves are oval, {{cvt|8|-|15|cm|in|frac=4}} long and {{cvt|6|-|10|cm|in|frac=4}} 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 Latin term {{wikt-lang|la|mollis}} means "soft", and refers to the felted leaves, which turn yellow in autumn.{{cite book|last=Harrison|first=Lorraine|title=RHS Latin for gardeners|year=2012|publisher=Mitchell Beazley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=9781845337315|pages=224}} The flowers are yellow, often with a red base, with four ribbon-shaped petals {{cvt|15|mm|in|2}} long and four short stamens, and grow in clusters; flowering is in late winter to early spring on the bare branches. The fruit is a hard woody capsule {{cvt|12|mm|in|2}} long, which splits explosively at the apex at maturity one year after pollination, ejecting the two shiny black seeds from the parent plant.