1)66 



CALIFORNIA HAZEL 



Co'rylus califor'nica, syn. C. rostra' ta calif or' nica 



Male (staininate) flowers borne singly 

 in axils of bracts arranged in a droop- 

 ing, caterpillar-like cluster (catkin) on 

 twigs of the previous season's growth; 

 each flower with 4 stamens but the 

 stalks forked so that they appear as 8 



Female (pistillate) flowers 2 in each 

 bract, in small clusters set in scaly 

 buds, inconspicuous, only the red, 

 threadlike stalks (styles) protruding 



Fruit 1 to 3 at ends of current season's 

 twigs, with densely stiff-hairy sac 

 (involucre) surrounding the nut and 

 prolonged beyond it into a tubular, 

 fringed beak up to about twice as long 

 as the nut 



Nut about % to % in. long, 

 shaped, hard, smooth, brown 



egg- 



Leaves alternate, appearing later than 

 the flowers, rounded to reverse-egg- 

 shaped, IK to 4 in. long, doubly and 

 sharply saw-toothed on edges, sparsely 

 hairy above, soft-hairy on veins and 

 velvety to touch beneath, short-stalked 





Current year's twigs brown, hairy, 

 sometimes somewhat glandular 



California hazel is a multisteinmed, loosely spreading shrub, mostly 6 to 10 

 feet high, common in the Pacific coast forested areas. The common name hazel 

 is presumably of north European origin, where it has been variously spelled 

 as haesel, hassel, and hastl. It originally referred to the European hazel, or 

 filbert (C. avellana). The species is distributed from central California to 

 British Columbia. 



California hazel occurs on a variety of soils, from moist, black loam to dry, 

 stony soils, and even appears in crevices in the rocks. Ordinarily, it becomes 



