E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Corylus cornuta var. californica Marsh. (A. DC.) Sharp
beaked hazelnut; California hazelnut
Betulaceae (Birch Family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Brian Klinkenberg  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #15712)
Distribution of Corylus cornuta var. californica
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Species Information

Click on the image below to view an expanded illustration for this species.



Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of BC
General:
Deciduous shrub, 1-3 m tall with many stems, densely clumped or spreading by suckers; twigs sparsely to moderately hairy, sometimes glandular.
Leaves:
Alternate, deciduous, elliptic to oval, leaf blades heart-shaped with a sharp-pointed tip, doubly saw-toothed, paler below than above, 4-10 cm long, turning yellow in the fall.
Flowers:
Male flowers in catkins appearing before the leaves in spring; female flowers in a very small catkin with protruding red stigmas.
Fruits:
Edible hard-shelled nuts completely enclosed by bristly bractlets, in 2's or 3's at the end of branches, barely 1.5 cm long, thinly hairy or glabrous.
Notes:
Two varieties occur in BC:

1. Involucral beaks about twice as long as the fruit; silicles thinly short-hairy; twigs sparsely hairy............... var. cornuta

1. Involucral beaks about equal in length to the fruit; silicles glabrous; twigs hairy, sometimes glandular............... var. californica (A. DC.) Sharp

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Flower Colour:
Yellow
USDA Blooming Period:
Early Spring
USDA Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present from Spring to Fall
Source:  The USDA

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Corylus cornuta var. californica

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2008)
Site Information
 Value / Class

Average

Minimum

Maximum
Elevation (metres)
 707 366 957
Slope Gradient (%)
 22.7 0 81

Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]

 146.7 0 350
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric] 		4.0 2 5
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class
 Medium
Number of field plots
 species was recorded in:
 54
Modal BEC Zone Class
 ICH

All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in

 ESSF(1), ICH(50), IDF(3)

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the:  "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Habitat / Range

Mesic sites in the lowland and montane zones; var. cornuta - common south of 57degreeN east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, var. californica - frequent on S Vancouver Island and the lower Fraser Valley, becoming rare to the east; E to NF and S to GA (var. cornuta) and E to ID and S to CA (var. californica).

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of BC

Synonyms and Alternative Names

Corylus californica (A. DC.) Rose
Corylus cornuta subsp. californica (A. DC.) E. Murr.
Corylus cornuta var. glandulosa B. Boivin

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Flora North America treatment for Betulaceae
 Flora North America treatment for Corylus cornuta
Genetic information (NCBI Taxonomy Database)
 International Plant Names Index
 Taxonomic Information from the Missouri Botanical Garden
 Vascular Plant Type Database, New York Botanical Gardens
 Integrated Taxonomic Information System

Additional Photo Sources

Burke Museum of Natural History's Image Collection
 Images From CalPhoto
UT Austin's Native Plant Database
 Google Image Search
 Flickr Image Search

Related Databases

FDA Poisonous Plant Database

General References

Google Scholar Search
Family References
 General Botanical References for BC
Recommended citation: Author, Date. Page title. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Editor) 2013. E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [Accessed: 5/20/2013 9:56:11 PM ]
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