This uncommon large shrub of woodlands is found throughout North Carolina except in the lower Coastal Plain.
The edible nuts, also called filberts, ripen in late fall.
Durham Co., NC 7/4/03.
American Hazelnut has relatively flat, fringed involucral bracts (surrounding the nut) and stipitate-glandular petioles and twigs. The similar Beaked Hazelnut (C. cornuta) has a long, tubular beak surrounding the nut and villous (finely soft-hairy) perioles and young twigs.
Carroll Co., VA 7/27/03.
Long catkins (male flower clusters) appear in early spring.
Durham Co., NC 3/1/08.
