Thursday 1 March 2012

Hazel nuts start here


Back on 22nd December I posted a picture on this blog of the lambstail catkins waiting to flower.  They are the male flowers of the hazel.  Well now the sunny weather of March is here, they have expanded and are casting their pollen on the wind.  Only one grain is needed for each female hazel flower to be fertilised.  From this union grow the hazel nuts of autumn.

The female hazel flower is a tiny red star, small but beautifully formed,  on a bud on a little fruiting spur.  The photo below with my rucksack as a background, hardly does it justice.




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