COBNUTS AND FILBERTS. 67 



CHAPTER VIII. 

 Cobnuts and Filberts. 



COBNUTS AND FILBERTS are varieties of the Common Hazel 

 Nut (Corylus Avellana) of our hedgerows and woods. 

 The Filbert derives its name from " full beard," in allu- 

 sion to the length of its husk. It appears that this nut 

 was introduced from Greece into Italy by the Romans, 

 and the nuts were known there as Avellana Nuts, from 

 the fact of their being largely cultivated at Avelino. 

 From Italy the Filbert apparently found its way into 

 France, and thence into England. The nuts are long 

 and slender, and covered entirely with a fringed husk, 

 which extends beyond the apex of the nut. They were 

 formerly known as "Full-beards." 



The Cobnut is said by Phillips to have been first cul- 

 tivated in this country in 1665, a Mr. John Ray having 

 introduced them from Constantinople. The Barcelona 

 Nut, which is imported extensively into this country from 

 Spain, is almost identical with our Cobnut. The Cobnut 

 has a shorter and rounder nut than the Filbert, and the 

 husk also does not quite cover the nut. Since the first 

 introduction into this country, both the Filbert and the 

 Cobnut have been greatly improved, there now being 

 several varieties of each. 



Mode of Bearing. The male and female flowers are 

 distinct, and borne separately on the shoots. The male 

 blossoms are -borne in the form of catkins, or drooping 

 tassels, and appear early in the winter. The female 

 flowers are' small and somewhat inconspicuous, and do 

 not appear till February or later. They consist of small 

 plump buds, in the centre of which are borne crimson 

 thread-like styles the female organs- The tiny flowers 

 are fertilised with the pollen of the catkins, which is con- 



p2 



