THE HAZELS EUROPEAN HAZELS. 71 



till a more satisfactory classification can be made. Several foreign writers at various 

 times have undertaken the systematic arrangement of the cultivated hazels. Dochnal 1 

 based his classification on botanical characters. For characteristics of the various 

 groups he used, first, the size and shape of the fruit and the shield (i. e., that part of 

 the surface of $he base of the shell which was connected with the husk) ; second, 

 thickness of shell; third, characteristics of the kernel and its covering; fourth, the 

 size and shape of the husk; fifth, the stipules. Under his third grouping Dochnal 

 maintained that the tortuous umbilical suture is a characteristic feature of C. tubulosa, 

 and the direct suture is a characteristic of the forest hazel C. avellana and the " Zeller 

 nusse" (cob nuts). This suture marking of the kernel was noticed by Pliny, but as a 

 feature for distinguishing the different nuts, it seems since his time to have fallen into 

 neglect. 



Dr. Fingerhuth 3 states that in Corylus tubulosa (the long-fruited hazel) the suture 

 turns toward the left in all cases, and in Corylus avellana it runs in a direct course 

 from base to tip. 



The umbilical suture may be noticed in the hazel by carefully crushing the shell 

 and noting that on one side of the nut is a scale-like growth, curved from the base 

 toward the tip of the kernel. Its center is thread like, but as hard as the shell, from 

 which it is separated. Its width varies, with a greater or less amount of the corky 

 inner growth of the shell remaining attached to it. Its elasticity resembles that of a 

 metallic spring. Its position of growth in the shell is marked on the kernel by a 

 depression. This depression is called the umbilical suture. It has been maintained 

 by some authors that its position in the shell and the direction of its growth across 

 the kernel is of much value in designating the different hazels. 



Burchardt, after a series of observations, confirms Decimal's statement that the 

 position of the umbilical suture in C. avellana is different from that in C. tubulosa. In 

 the former it runs from the center of the base, as from a placenta, directly toward the 

 tip, turning neither right nor left. It generally runs along one side of the seam, 

 sometimes in a direction differing from that of the seam. It is, however, never tortu- 

 ous, but in all cases it runs directly from base to tip. In C. tubulosa the suture is 

 always tortuous. That the turn of the suture is toward the left in all varieties of 

 C. tubulosa is not admitted by Burchardt, and he contends that it can be shown that 

 it curves toward the right as often as as it does toward the left. 



Franz Goeschke 3 divides the cultivated hazels of Europe into four groups. In 

 Group I he places Corylus avellana, the forest hazels. Group II, an horticultural spe- 

 cies which he designates Corylus maxima includes the zellernuts (cobnuts). Group III, 

 Corylus tubulosa, comprises the filberts. Group IV, hybrid nuts, consists of crosses 

 at variance in type with the first three groups. 



Goeschke holds that the name "Lambert nusse," a name applied to C. tubulosa, 

 was derived from Lombardy, in Italy, whence the nuts came. He claims that grafted 

 hazels are more fruitful than trees derived from layers and suckers ; that the hazel is 

 a valuable addition to the flora of a section interested in bees, as it supplies an abun- 

 dance of pollen very early in spring; that oil from the filbert is superior in quality to 

 the best olive oil, and that the kernel of the hazel is equal to the almond for making 

 nut cakes. Large quantities of nuts are peeled and fried in oil by the Italians, and 

 are thus imported into Germany and sold as " noces." 



Eobert Hogg, pomological director of the Royal Horticultural Society of Great 

 Britain, gives the following synopsis of nuts : 4 



" 1. Nuts shorter than, or husk as long as the nut. Varieties : Bond, Cob, Gosford, 

 Downton Square, Pearson's Prolific. 



1 Sure Guide in Pomology, Nurembnrg, 1860. 



2 Journal Linnea, vol. 4, p. 384. 



3 Die Hazelnuss, Berlin, 1887. 

 Fruit Manual, 1875. 



