Burke: Corylus cornuta

	Corylus cornuta
	beaked hazelnut
Habit	Multi-stemmed shrub 1-4 meters tall with alternate leaves. First-year twigs typically hairy to glandular, becoming glabrous (smooth) in second year.
Leaves	5-10 mm long petioles with 4-10 cm long blades; base of blade flat or somewhat heart-shaped; leaf margins doubly serrate; tip of blades coming to a point gradually or abruptly.
Flowers	All plants have separate male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers. Male flowers are arranged sprirally along a pendulous (dangling) catkin; female flowers enclosed in bracts at the tip of the twigs with only the red stigmas visible.
Fruits	1.5 cm. long, hard-shelled nut enclosed within a prickly-haired tube formed by the involucre (cluster of bracts) originating at the nut base.
Comments	The nuts are often harvested shortly after ripening by squirrels and other cache-forming animals.

	Corylus cornuta
Flowering time	January-March
Habitat	Forest edge and openings, thickets, and rocky slopes at low to middle elevations.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; southern British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, Great Lakes region, and eastern North America. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	C. avellana
Subordinate taxa	C. cornuta ssp. californica, C. cornuta ssp. cornuta
Web links	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Corylus cornuta

beaked hazelnut

Habit

Multi-stemmed shrub 1-4 meters tall with alternate leaves. First-year twigs typically hairy to glandular, becoming glabrous (smooth) in second year.

Leaves

5-10 mm long petioles with 4-10 cm long blades;

base of blade flat or somewhat heart-shaped; leaf margins doubly serrate;

tip of blades coming to a point gradually or abruptly.

Flowers

All plants have separate male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers. Male flowers are arranged sprirally along a pendulous (dangling) catkin; female flowers enclosed in bracts at the tip of the twigs with only the red stigmas visible.

Fruits

1.5 cm. long, hard-shelled nut enclosed within a prickly-haired tube formed by the involucre (cluster of bracts) originating at the nut base.

Comments

The nuts are often harvested shortly after ripening by squirrels and other cache-forming animals.

Corylus cornuta

Flowering time

January-March

Habitat

Forest edge and openings, thickets, and rocky slopes at low to middle elevations.

Distribution

Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; southern British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, Great Lakes region, and eastern North America.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Native

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa

C. avellana

Subordinate taxa

C. cornuta ssp. californica, C. cornuta ssp. cornuta

Web links