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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
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