The Nature of Phenology 3/30/19

Producers/Hosts: Hazel Stark and Joe Horn

Beaked Hazelnuts Flowering

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com.

What comes before the nuts—in fact, what allows for the nuts to emerge at all in the long term–are the shrub’s flowers. Before the bright green leaves burst forth from their buds in the coming weeks, two types of flowers emerge from its branches. The yellow-brown male catkins hang like pendulums, ready for a gust of wind to carry their pollen away. Above the male catkins appearing from the twig tips are the female flowers, which for the most part are quite inconspicuous, but for the fiery fuchsia feathery fibers spilling from its tip.

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