246 HAZEL 



spikes, from between the upper scales of 

 which the paired red stigmas project in 

 early spring. 



Corylus Avellana, L. Hazel (Figs. 80, 81). Bush or 

 shrub, with broad, rather Elm-like leaves, but glandular 

 hairy shoots, bearing long pendent </ catkins in winter 

 and early spring. Monoecious, anemophilous. 



Male catkins 2 3 up to 5 cm. long, at length dang- 

 ling; scales pale brown, hairy, each bearing on its inner 

 face 2 adnate bracteoles flanking a group of 4 yellow 

 stamens, each bifid to near its base ; anthers tufted with 

 hairs. This group is the male flower. The adnate 

 bracteoles form two minute lappets to the scale. Pollen 

 sulphur-yellow, tetrahedral, smooth, about 31 /-c in dia- 

 meter, with 3 germ-ppres. 



Female flowers in an ovoid bud-like spike, a few mm. 

 long, consisting of a number of barren scales (stipular) 

 below, investing a few similar scales with leaf-rudiments, 

 and within these come 4 8 scales, each with two ^ flowers 

 in its axil. In spring the long red stigmas project between 

 the scales (Fig. 80, 1, $) and thus the catkin is distin- 

 guished from an ordinary leaf-bud. Each $ flower con- 

 sists of a minute two-chambered ovary, with one ovule in 

 each chamber. There is a trace of an adherent epigynous 

 perigone, and the whole is invested at the base by a bract 

 and two bracteoles, which fuse to form the fimbriated, 

 membranous cupule or " husk," as the fruit ripens to the 

 well-known nut. The perigone is easily detected on fresh 

 filberts as a slightly fimbriate rim below the apex of the 

 nut. The catkins are terminal on dwarf shoots. 



(/3) The </ catkins not cylindroid, nor with 

 closely imbricated and uninterrupted scales. 

 Cupule thick, tough and leathery or nearly 

 woody ; scaly, or prickly, &c. 



