FILBERT OR HAZELNUT. 127 



Young shoots and twigs downy and glandular-hairy. 

 Common in woods and old fields from Canada to Florida. 

 CORYLUS ROSTRATA (Aiton). Beaked hazel. Leaves 

 ovate or oblong, somewhat heart-shaped, pointed, doubly 

 serrate ; husk extending an inch or more beyond the 

 round or ovoid nut, forming before it opens a long tubu- 

 lar beak, hence the name. The husk is densely covered 

 with nettle-like bristles, which are quite irritating to 

 tender hands. The nuts are small, usually growing in 

 clusters at the ends of the twigs, only a few coming to 

 maturity. A low shrub or small tree, usually growing 

 in a dense clump, not spreading from subterranean 

 stems, as in the last species. Common on rather firm 

 and rich soil along the borders of streams, in the 

 northern border States, and southward on the Alle- 

 ghanies, but most abundant in the north through Can- 

 ada, and westward to the Pacific in Washington and. 

 Oregon, where, in the mountains, it often assumes the 

 tree form, growing to a hight of twenty-five to thirty 

 feet, with a stem from four to six inches in diameter. 

 The wood is light, soft, and very white to the center. 

 It also extends southward to central California, but 

 here it is only a small bush, this form having been de- 

 scribed under the name of Corylus rostrata, var. Cali- 

 fornica, A. de C. This species probably reaches its high- 

 est development in the Cascade range, in northern Ore- 

 gon. The same or a closely allied species of the hazel 

 extends far into northern Asia. There are no improved 

 varieties of either of our native species of the hazel in 

 cultivation. 



EUROPEAN SPECIES OF CORYLUS. 



CORYLUS AVELLANA (Linn.). Common hazelnut. 

 Leaves roundish, heart-shaped, pointed, coarsely and un- 

 evenly serrate ; husk bell-shaped, spreading, with a 

 fringed or deeply cut margin. The original form of this 



