Witch-hazel is the common name for a genus of shrubs Hamamelis in the family Hamamelidaceae, with four species, two in North America (H. virginiana and H. vernalis), and one each in Japan (H. japonica) and China (H. mollis). The Persian Ironwood, a closely related tree formerly treated as Hamamelis persica, is now given a genus of its own, as Parrotia persica. Other closely allied genera are Parrotiopsis, Fothergilla and Sycopsis (see under Hamamelidaceae).