EARLY SPRING 281 



How the Nut Hazel becomes Fertilised 



The pollen-bearing and fruit-producing flowers 

 of the Hazel are separate, but can be found on 

 the same tree. 



The immature pollen-bearing flowers are ex- 

 posed through the Winter as stiff and short 

 brownish cylinders in groups of two or more, 

 developing, as Spring draws nigh, into long 

 pendulous yellow catkins in clusters. The fruit- 

 producing flowers are enclosed in buds until the 

 Spring, when they thrust forth their tiny crimson 

 plumes. So they wait, receptive, for the wind- 

 scattered pollen. 



The pollen, having been blown by the wind 

 from the pollen-bearing to the fruit-producing 

 flowers, the flower buds soon commence to grow, 

 producing eventually a stalk with leaves and 

 clustered fruit. 



The fruit — a nut with a very nutritious kernel 

 — is so assiduously collected and planted by the 

 Squirrels afterwards, though for a quite different 

 purpose, that these lively little creatures greatly 

 help in its distribution. 



If there is one sight in Nature to which I look 

 forward with eagerness each Springtime it is the 

 Brimstone Butterflies, which come forth from their 



