Beaked Hazelnut

Beaked Hazelnut; Noisetier à long bec.

Corylus cornuta; Family: Betulaceae

In my back yard, there is a beaked hazelnut shrub. It was the unique-shaped nuts on the ground that caught my attention to this shrub. It is the only native shrub in New Brunswick that has an edible nut, called a filbert. It is tolerant to shade and can be found in the understory of a new forest or in clearings.

It is one of the earliest flowering shrub but one must look very closely to see the flowers. The male flowers are obvious in the form of catkins (about 3 cms) hanging from the buds while the female flowers are obscure red stigmas emerging from the tip of the bud. Each bud can contain more than one flower but it is only the stigmas that are visible.

The fruit is a round nut with a hard shell, encased in a stiff, green husk. The husk has a long tubular beak about twice as long as the nut and covered in bristly hairs. The nut is a favourite for squirrels and chipmunks. Most of the plant is a food source for animals and birds. Deer will eat the buds, twigs, leaves and catkins. Ruffed grouse and the American woodcock will eat the buds and the catkins in spring. In the years since I first noticed this shrub, it has been hard to find a nut before the squirrels have snatched them up. Therefore the photo of the nut shown here is taken from an herbarium specimen at the Connell Memorial Herbarium.