Mature hazel 4
Native Americans used Corylus americana for medicinal purposes. The nuts are edible raw, although smaller than the more commonly cultivated filberts ( Corylus maxima, Corylus colurna, Corylus avellana, and hybrids thereof).
The male catkins are a food staple of ruffed grouse throughout the winter. The nuts produced by American hazelnut are a mast of squirrels, deer, turkey, woodpeckers, pheasants and other animals. įruit cluster (nuts enclosed in leaflike bracts) Each nut is enclosed in two leaf-like bracts with irregularly laciniate margins. Īmerican hazelnut produces edible nuts that mature at a time between July and October. Each male flower on a catkin has a pair of bracts and four stamens. The male catkins develop in the fall and remain over the winter. It blooms in very early to mid spring, producing hanging male ( staminate) catkins 4 to 8 cm ( 1 + 1⁄ 2 to 3 + 1⁄ 4 in) long, and clusters of 2–5 tiny female ( pistillate) flowers enclosed in the protective bracts of a bud, with their red styles sticking out at the tip. It spreads by sending up suckers from underground rhizomes 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 in) below the surface. It is often multi-stemmed with long outward growing branches that form a dense spreading or spherical shape. It is a medium to large shrub, which under some conditions can take the like of a small tree. The American hazelnut grows to a height of roughly 2.5 to 5 m (8 to 16 ft), with a crown spread of 3 to 4.5 m (10 to 15 ft).