Beaked Hazelnut

2 gallon pot – $40.00 each (taxes included).

The Western Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) is a shrub to small tree with multiple stems growing up to about 26 feet tall. It likes moist but well draining soil in open forest. In shadier locations it will not grow as tall or produce as many nuts. The leaves are oval with a pointed tip and double toothed edges. The Beaked Hazelnut needs to be cross pollinated, meaning there needs to be at least two genetically different trees (you can’t take a cutting from the tree to make a new tree and have them pollinate, you are making a clone of the tree). The male catkins (flowers) start to form in the fall and open in the spring and are about 2 inches (5cm) long. The female flowers appear after and are small with only the red stigma (the part of the female flower that receives the male pollen) and styles (is the slender stalk the connects the stigma to the ovary) protruding from a grey-brown bud near the end of twigs. This is a great wildlife tree providing food and shelter for our native birds and animals. The tree in the top picture is outside our home and there is always Chickadees, Bushtits, and Downy Woodpeckers on it looking for insects.