Beaked Hazel

The Beaked Hazel (Corylus cornuta) 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.

The Beaked Hazel 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. californica - Western Beaked Hazel. Large shrub, to 8 m tall; 'beak' shorter, usually less than 3 cm.