American hazelnut

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American hazelnut fruit

American hazelnut leaf

American hazelnut leaf

American hazelnut catkins

American hazelnut bark

American hazelnut flowering

American hazelnut catkin

American hazelnut fruit

American hazelnut catkin and bud

American hazelnut

American hazelnut fruit

Morphology

Trunk

Stems ascending to erect; branches unarmed; bark brown to grayish brown, smooth or fissures shallow; wood white, more or less hard.

Twigs

Reddish brown to tan, flexible, pubescent, stipitate-glandular; leaf scars half-round; pith greenish white; buds reddish brown, ovoid, .08 to .12 inch, apex obtuse, scales ciliate.

Leaves

Deciduous, alternate, simple; petiole .2 to .5 inch; blade ovate, 2 to 6.4 inches long, 1.6 to 4.8 inches wide, base truncate to rounded or cordate, margins 1-2-serrate, apex acute to acuminate, lower surfaces green, sparsely pubescent, upper surfaces green to dark green, sparsely pubescent.

Flowers

Inflorescences are catkins formed in previous season and exposed in winter; staminate catkins: axillary, 1-2, pendent, 1.2 to 3.2 inches long, .02 to .03 inch wide, many-flowered; pistillate catkins: proximal to staminate, 1, erect, .2 to .6 inch long, .16 to .4 inch wide, 6-12-flowered, not becoming cone-like or woody in fruit; peduncle to .6 inch in fruit. Unisexual, more or less radially symmetric; staminate: bearing bracts, each bract with 3 flowers; perianth absent; stamens 4; pistillate: bearing bracts, each bract with 2 flowers; perianth adnate to ovary; pistil 1, ovary inferior, 2-locular proximally; styles 2; stigmas 2.

Fruit

September-October; nuts brown, nearly globose, .5 to .7 inch diam., minutely velvety, surrounded by and basally adnate to 2 bracts, bracts persist and enlarge with age, irregularly dentate distally; seed 1.

Ecology

Habitat

Edges of upland forests and woodlands, thickets.

Distribution

East 1/3 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

The kernels of American hazelnut are sweet and nutritious, high in protein, dietary fiber, vitamin E, and certain minerals, and can be eaten raw or roasted. They were a food source of the Dakota, Omaha, Ponca, and Winnebago tribes (Kindscher 1987). Squirrels, chipmunks, and birds also consume the kernels (Stephens 1973).

Additional Notes