CHAPTER VI. 



PILBBRT OR HAZELNUT. 



Gorylus, Tournefort. Name from korys, a hood, 

 helmet or bonnet, in reference to the form of the calyx 

 or husk enclosing the nut. Order, Corylacece. Decid- 

 uous trees or low shrubs. Male flowers appearing in 

 the autumn in pendulous cylindrical catkins two inches 

 or more in length, with a two-cleft calyx partly united 

 with the bracts or scales. These catkins remain on the 

 plants all winter, becoming fully developed, and shed- 

 ding their pollen early the following spring. Female 

 flowers minute, entirely hidden within the buds during 

 the winter, but early in spring their bright red, thread- 

 like stigmas pus"h out from the tips of the lateral or ter- 

 minal buds. Ovary two-celled,, with one ovule in each. 

 Nut globular, ovoid or oblong, often in clusters, but 

 each enclosed in a leafy, two- or three-valved husk, 

 fringed or deeply notched at the upper end. Leaves 

 broadly heart-shaped, serrate, with sturdy, short leaf- 

 stalks. The filbert and hazel always bloom before the 

 leaves appear in spring, and the male catkins usually 

 open and begin to scatter theii- pollen in this latitude 

 during warm days in March, the females soon following, 

 their bright-red stigmas pushing out from the ends of 

 the buds , but as soon as fertilization has been consum- 

 mated tliey shrivel and disappear. The trees may then 

 remain leafless for weeks following, and yet produce a 

 heavy crop of fruit. 



The common English name, filbert, is from "full- 

 beard." All the varieties with husks extending beyond 

 the nut, and with fringed edges, are filberts (Pig. 37) ; 



118 



