BETULACE^E BIRCH FAMILY 



Corylus americana, Walt. 



March-April Filbert, 



Hazelnut. 

 Nuts ripe 

 July-September 



Corylus: probably a Greek word meaning helmet, in allu- 

 sion to the shape of the involucre. 

 Americana: Latin for American. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: sandy soil, thickets, and bor- 

 ders of thickets. 



THE SHRUB: three feet to five feet tall, branched; the 

 young shoots a russet-brown, rough, with short, pinkish 

 hairs; the twigs becoming hairless. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; ovate or broadly oval; three 

 inches to six inches long; two inches to five inches wide; 

 above, hairless or nearly so ; beneath with a fine, soft, matted 

 wool; acute or acuminate at the apex; cordate or obtusish 

 at the base; with very fine sharp teeth on the margin. 



THE FLOWERS: minute, in catkins which are three to four 

 inches long. 



THE FRUIT: a nut, in clusters of four, enclosed in a fringed, 

 leaf -like envelope. 



In thinking of the two Hazelnut bushes (Corylus ameri- 

 cana and Corylus rostrata), one remembers many leaves, 

 not all of which are green, but usually, some at least, a 

 madder-brown, that are shaped like those of the birch 

 and have deep, regular saw-teeth. Below the thicket, so 

 to speak, of upper leaves, are the nut cases. One kind 

 has a fluted edge to the saucer-like envelope which en- 



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