CHAPTER VI. 



FILBERT OR HAZELXUT. 



Corylus, Tournefort. Name from korys, a hood, 

 helmet or bonnet, in reference to the form of the calyx 

 or husk enclosing the nut. Order, Corylacece. Decid- 

 uous trees or low shrubs. Male flowers appearing in 

 the autumn in pendulous cylindrical catkins two inches 

 or more in length, with a two-cleft calyx partly united 

 with the bracts or scales. These catkins remain on the 

 plants all winter, becoming fully developed, and shed- 

 ding their pollen early the following spring. Female 

 flowers minute, entirely hidden within the buds during 

 the winter, but early in spring their bright red, thread- 

 like stigmas push out from the tips of the lateral or ter- 

 minal buds. Ovary two-celled, with one ovule in each. 

 Nut globular, ovoid or oblong, often in clusters, but 

 each enclosed in a leafy, two- or three- valved husk, 

 fringed or deeply notched at the upper end. Leaves 

 broadly heart-shaped, serrate, with sturdy, short leaf- 

 stalks. The filbert and hazel always bloom before the 

 leaves appear in spring, and the male catkins usually 

 open and begin to scatter their pollen in this latitude 

 during warm days in March, the females soon following, 

 their bright-red stigmas pushing out from the ends of 

 the buds , but as soon as fertilization has been consum- 

 mated they shrivel and disappear. The trees may then 

 remain leafless for weeks following, and yet produce a 

 heavy crop of fruit. 



The common English name, filbert, is from "full- 

 beard." All the varieties with husks extending beyond 

 the nut, and with fringed edges, are filberts (Fig. 37) ; 



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