1214 CORYLUS. [CLASS XXI. ORDER VII, 
the trees yielding the nuts called mast, which were used as food by 
the ancients; swine are very fond of them, and Beech nuts are 
much valued for fattening them in the autumn: they are also a 
favourite food of deer. 
GENUS XXIIf. CO’'RYLUS.—Linn. Hasel-nut. 
Nat. Ord. Cupunire’ka. RuicwH. 
Gen. Cuar. Barren flowers in a cylindrical catkin, its scales three 
lobed, the middle one largest, and covering the lateral ones. 
Stamens eight. Anthers one celled. Jertile flowers several, 
(perianth obsolete), enclosed in a sealy bud. Stigmas two. 
Fruit a one seeded nut, invested at the base with the united 
coriaceous scales of the involucre—Named from xcgus, a casque, 
or cap ; so called from the fruit invested with its involucre, ap- 
pearing as if covered with a’ cap or bonnet. 
1. C. Avella'na, Linn. (Fig. 1466.) Common Hasel-nut. Stipules 
oblong, obtuse ; leaves roundish, heart-shaped, pointed; involuere of 
the fruit campanulate, rather spreading, torn and toothed at the 
margin. 
English Botany, t. 723.—English Flora, vol. iv. p. 157.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 350.—Lindley, Synopsis, p, 240. 
A small branched tree or shrub, with smooth bark, the branches 
elothed with fine pubescence, and often glandular. Leaves alternate, 
roundish, with a heart-shaped base, two or three inches across, acumi- 
nated at the point, lobed, and doubly serrated on the margin, dark 
green above, pale beneath, and more or less downy. Barren catkins 
axillary and terminal, one or two together or clustered, formed in the 
autumn, but enlarging and opening in the spring, about two inches 
long, cylindrical, the scales downy. J’ertile flowers several, invested 
with brown scales in the form of a bud. Stigmas prominent, purple, 
downy, awl-shaped. Nuts sessile, roundish ovate, half covered by the 
investing perianth in the form of a cup, with the margin torn and 
toothed. 
Habitat Hedges and copses ; abundant. 
Tree ; flowering in March and April. 
The Hasel-nut tree is a well-known underwood plant in almost all 
parts of the country, and though it does not grow to any great size, 
its branches are applied to many useful purposes, as hoops of casks, 
fishing rods, walking sticks, crates for packing earthenware, &c., 
hurdles, springles for fastening down thatch, &c. The nuts, which 
are some years much more abundant than others, are well known as 
a dessert fruit, and sold in great quantities in our markets. The 
epecific name Avellana is derived from Avyellino, a town in the king 
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