Beaked Hazelnut

Corylus cornuta, the beaked hazelnut (or just beaked hazel), is a deciduous shrubby hazel found throughout most of North America, from southern Canada south to Georgia and California. It grows in dry woodlands and at forest edges and can reach 4–8 metres (13–26 ft) tall with stems 10–25 cm (4–9 3⁄4 in) thick with smooth gray bark, but it can also remain relatively small in the shade of other plants. The leaves are green, rounded oval with a pointed tip, coarsely double-toothed, 5–11 cm (2–4 1⁄4 in) long and 3–8 cm (1 1⁄4–3 1⁄4 in) broad, with hairy undersides. The male flowers are catkins that form in the fall and pollinate single female flowers the following spring to allow the fruits to mature through the summer season.