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American hazel or hazelnut, American hazelnut, noisetier d'amérique

Habit Shrubs, open, upright, rounded, to 3(–5) m.
Bark

light gray, smooth.

Branches

ascending;

twigs pubescent, covered with bristly glandular hairs.

Leaves

blade broadly ovate, often with straight sides and slight lobes near apex, giving them squarish appearance, 5–16 × 4–12 cm, moderately thin, base narrowly cordate to narrowly rounded, margins sharply serrate or obscurely doubly serrate, apex abruptly to long-acuminate;

surfaces abaxially sparsely to moderately pubescent, velutinous to tomentose along major veins and in vein axils.

Inflorescences

staminate catkins lateral along branchlets on very short shoots, usually in clusters of 1–2, 4–8 × 0.5–0.8 cm;

peduncles mostly 1–5 mm.

Winter

buds containing inflorescences broadly ovoid, 3–4 × 3–4 mm, apex obtuse to rounded.

Nuts

in clusters of 2–5, sometimes partially visible;

bracts much enlarged, leaflike, distinct nearly to base, slightly longer than to 2 times length of nuts, apex deeply and irregularly laciniate;

bract surfaces downy-pubescent, abaxially stipitate-glandular.

2n

= 22, 28.

Corylus americana

Phenology Flowering very early spring.
Habitat Moist to dry open woods and thickets, hillsides, roadsides, fencerows, and waste places
Elevation 0–750 m (0–2500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; MB; ON; SK
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Discussion

Corylus americana is a weedy species, sometimes considered a pest in carefully managed forests. The nuts are smaller but of the same general quality and flavor as commercial filberts (Corylus maxima Miller and C. colurna Linnaeus).

Native Americans used Corylus americana medicinally for hives, biliousness, diarrhea, cramps, hay fever, childbirth, hemorrhages, prenatal strength, and teething, to induce vomiting, and to heal cuts (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Betulaceae > subfam. Coryloideae > Corylus
Sibling taxa
C. avellana, C. cornuta
Synonyms C. americana var. altior, C. americana var. indehiscens, C. americana var. missouriensis
Name authority Walter: Fl. Carol., 236. (1788)
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