2o8 THE HAZEL. 



FERTILE FLOWERS AND NUTS. 



Before the catkins are killy out the fertile or pistil-bearing 

 tiowers appear. The ruby-coloured or crimson threads which pro- 

 ject bevond the apex oi each Hower-bud, are the stigmas only of the 

 flower. In each bud there are from eight to sixteen floret buds, 

 onlv a tew ot \\'hich, however, mature. Each pair of tiowers is 

 protected bv a scale \\hich hides all but the stigmas, and besides 

 this each individual flower is surrounded by a cup-shaped bract. The 

 thread-like stigmas of the pistil soon shrivel up, the bud-scales open 

 out, and during the summer the nut is formed. 



In August the nuts, in clusters of two or three together, lie 

 hidden under the level leaves ; their bases radiate round the apex of 

 a pendent shoot, each nut diverging slightly from its neighbour, and 

 all King in a nearly horizontal position. At this time they are 

 about halt-an-inch long, of a whitish-green colour, velvety in texture 

 and o\ al in outline, with the sides slightly flattened. Each one is 

 surrounded at the base l)y a leaf-like frill, equal in depth to halt 

 the length of the nut. This frill or " capule " is pale-green in hue, 

 hairy and deeply serrated, and has been developed from the cup-shaped 

 bract surrounding the flower. Sometimes between the bases of the 

 nuts are other smaller trills of undeveloped nuts. When ripe the 

 shell of the iiut becomes brown and smooth. 



THE LEAF AND TWIGS. 



The catkins have died awav, and the crimson tips of the fertile 

 flowers become shrivelled before the leaves appear. About April the 

 round leaf-buds are covered with pink and brown imbricated scales 

 which overlap one another. The outer row ot these [iresently spread 



