528 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



naked buds before the leaves, the pistillate about \ inch long, 

 the staminate 3 inches long, or less. 



Found in wet places in southern New York, Pennsylvania, and 

 northward. 



129. Hazel-nut 



Corylus Americana. — Family, Birch. Color, greenish. 

 Leaves, oval or ovate, heart-shaped or rounded at base, long- 

 pointed at apex, evenly and finely toothed, smooth above, soft 

 beneath, thin, short-petioled. Time, March and April. 



Staminate flowers in catkins at the ends of the old twigs (of 

 the previous season), coming long before the leaves, 3 to 4 

 inches long, each flower consisting of 4 or more stamens and 

 2 bractlets, without calyx. Pistillate flowers in clusters at the 

 end of this season's branches, consisting of a calyx, a 2-celled 

 ovary, a short style, and 2 stigmas. Underneath are 2 large 

 bractlets, which in fruit enlarge and cover the edible nut, 

 growing beyond it, leaf-like, fringed, and torn around the edges. 

 Shrub 4 to 8 feet high, leafy, branched. 



In dry thickets^from Maine to Florida, and westward to Kan- 

 sas. 



130. Beaked Hazel-nut 



C. rostrdta differs from the last in having broader leaves, 

 with their serrulate margins regularly incised, hairy on the 

 veins beneath. The involucral bractlets surrounding the nuts 

 unite at the summit and are prolonged into a bristly, tubular 

 beak, much longer than the fruit, torn at the apex. 



Common, like the preceding, throughout all the Atlantic States. 



The filbert is a European species (C avellana), whose nuts, ri- 

 pening in October, grace our Thanksgiving table. One species 

 of hazel-nut becomes a tree, 50 feet in height (C cohirna). 



131, Prairie Willow 

 Salix htimilis. — Family, Willow. Color, greenish or red- 



