Corylus cornuta Marshall
beaked hazelnut (California hazelnut)
Betulaceae (Birch family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
beaked hazelnut (California hazelnut)
Betulaceae (Birch family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
Species Information
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
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
Yellow
Blooming Period:
Early Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present from Summer to Fall
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Corylus cornuta
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, 2013)
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, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
666 | 1 | 1687 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
26 | 0 | 235 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
205 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 0 | 7 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
847 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
ICH | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
BG(1), BWBS(5), CDF(5), CWH(32), ESSF(1), ICH(564), IDF(121), MS(2), PP(7), SBPS(1), SBS(77) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and 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).Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Corylus californica (A. DC.) Rose
Corylus cornuta subsp. californica (A. DC.) E. Murray
Corylus cornuta var. glandulosa B. Boivin
Taxonomic Keys
Taxonomic Key to Corylus
1. Twigs sparsely to moderately hairy, sometimes slightly glandular; silicles completely enclosed by bristly bractlets.....................C. cornuta 1. Twigs both hairy and glandular, silicles not completely enclosed by the thinly downy, lacerated bractlets.................................C. avellana |