HAZEL BUSHES ARE IN BLOOM

BEAKED HAZELNUT MALE CATKIN...

...DOUBLE-TOOTHED LEAVES AND BEAKED HAZEL NUTS(wisflora photo)...

...MINUSCULE FEMALE FLOWER

Saturday, 7:30 AM.  Fifty degrees F at the ferry dock, 52 on the back porch.  Wind SW, calm with light gusts.  The sky is partly cloudy with some haze in the east.  The humidity is low, at 55%.  The barometer is holding mostly steady, at 30.12". It is another very quiet, soft spring morning. 

   Wisconsin has two species of native hazelnuts, the beaked hazelnut shown here, Corylus cornuta, and the American hazel, Corylus americanum, both in the Hazel Family, the Corylaceae.  they are medium sized, multi-stemmed shrubs of the deciduous and mixed forests of the North and and Midwest, and the western mountains.  The edible nuts and other plant parts are important wildlife food, and the and the nuts can be a valuable crop for human consumption.  The European hazel is an important agricultural crop and a lot is being done with the native species in that regard, particularly by the National Arbor Day Foundation.  I see no reason why hazel nuts could not be a viable cash crop for the Bayfield region.

  The hazels are one of the earliest woody plants to bloom, the male catkins just now beginning to shed pollen.  The female flower, located on the same plant as the male (monoecious, "one house"), is so minute it is easily overlooked.