Alternate name: Beaked Hazelnut Family: Betulaceae, Birch view
all from this family Description Corylus cornuta (Beaked Hazel)
is a deciduous shrubby hazel found in most of North America,
from southern Canada south to Georgia and California. It grows
in dry woodlands and forest edges and can reach 4 – 8 m tall
with stems 10 – 25 cm thick with smooth gray bark. The leaves
are rounded oval, coarsely double-toothed, 5–11 cm long and 3 –
8 cm broad, with hairy undersides. The flowers are catkins that
form in the fall and pollinate in the following spring. 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. There are two
varieties: Corylus cornuta var. cornuta - Eastern Beaked Hazel.
Small shrub, to 4 m tall; 'beak' longer, 3 cm or more. Corylus
cornuta var. californ