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common filbert Betulaceae Corylus avellana L. Listen to the Latin Print a QR link to this factsheet symbol: COAV80
Leaf: Alternate, simple, with a doubly serrated margin, broadly oval with a heart-shaped or rounded base, dark green and slightly pubescent above, pale pubescent below, 2 to 5 inches in length, petiole with stiff, glandular hairs.
Flower: Species is monoecious; males are light brown 2 to 3 inch catkins, usually in clusters of threes near branch tips, opening before leaves; females are inconspicuous with only bright red stigma and styles protruding from the otherwise gray-brown buds, appearing as short, thin, red threads, early spring.
Fruit: Edible brown nuts 3/4 inch diameter partially enclosed in a hairy, leaf-like husk with ragged edges; initially green, ripening to a brown in late summer.
Twig: Slender, zigzag, light brown, with numerous stiff, glandular hairs; buds blunt, rounded, with few scales, green changing to tan with brown scales wrapping the base of the bud.
Bark: Light grayish brown and smooth, later develops a mild criss-cross netted pattern.
Form: A large multi-stemmed shrub or small tree to 20 feet in height.
 Looks like: Turkish hazel - American hazel - beaked hazel

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Additional Range Information: Corylus avellana is planted in the USDA hardiness zones shown above and may seed into the landscape. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links: USDA Plants Database - Horticulture Information
All material 2025 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information