IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
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beneath; stipules oblong-lanceolate; fruit orbicular, coria- 
ceous-margined. Betula alnus var. incana L. Sp. PL II, Ed. 
2, 1394, 1768; Alnus incana Willd. Sp. PL 4, 335, 18'>5. 
The wood of this species is light brown, close-grained, 
soft, light, and checks in drying. In New England it is 
said to be used in the final baking of bricks and in the 
manufacture of gunpowder. 
According to Professor Macbride, this species is common 
along the Yellow river in Allamakee county. Specimens 
from Allamakee and Jones counties are in the State uni- 
versity herbarium. Professor Arthur reports the species 
from Floyd county. 
Arthur, Contr. to the Flora of Iowa, p. 29; Flora of Floyd 
County in History of Floyd County, p. 310; Botanical 
Gazette, Vol. 7, p. 127; Macbride, Iowa Geol. Sur., Yol. 4, 
p. 119. 
Corylus americana Walt. FI. Car. 236, 1788. Hazel-nut. 
A shrub, four to eight feet high, growing in clumps, young 
shoots hispid, twigs glabrous; leaves ovate, acuminate, ser- 
rulate all around, petioled, glabrous above, tomentulose 
beneath, base obtuse to cordate; involucre of two leaf-like 
laciniately margined pubescent bractlets, exceeding the 
oval or oblong nut. 
This species makes up much of our thickets. We have 
observed thickets covering hundreds of acres composed 
mostly of this hazel with an occasional shrubby bur oak, 
red haws, plums, etc. Under present conditions the hazel 
is found along the highway, open upland woods, and 
uncleared thickets. The only economic value which this 
species possesses is the use of its fruit which is ripe in 
August and September. The nuts are small, somewhat 
striate, compressed, light brown, a half inch or less in 
length. These nuts have been gathered to a considerable 
extent and sold in the markets. The difficulty in hulling 
them has retarded their greater use. A certain species of 
chipmunk store up quantities of hulled nuts in burrows and 
some gatherers, knowing the habits of these rodents, sys- 
tematically rob them of their winter’s store much to the 
profit of the gatherers. 
