Appearance
''Corylus cornuta'' is named from its fruit, which is a nut enclosed in a husk with a tubular extension 2–4 cm long that resembles a beak. Tiny filaments protrude from the husk and may stick into, and irritate, skin that contacts them. The spherical nuts, which are surrounded by a hard shell, are edible though small. The beaked hazel is the hardiest of all hazel species, surviving temperatures of −50 °C at its northern limits.
Uses
The seeds are dispersed by jays and rodents such as red squirrels and least chipmunks. Although ''C. cornuta'' is somewhat shade tolerant, it is more common in forests with fairly open canopies than denser ones. However, it is intolerant of entirely open areas that get hot and dry. Fire kills the above-ground portion of the shrub, but it resprouts fairly readily after fire, and in fact American Indians in California and Oregon used fire to encourage hazelnut growth, as they used hazelnuts for food, baskets, medicine, and other purposes.References:
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