Corylus

Corylus 

a genus of deciduous shrubs and, less frequently, trees of the family Corylaceae (or Betulaceae, in a broad sense). The flowers are diclinous and open earlier than the leaves. The staminate flowers are pendulous in catkins, and the pistillate flowers, in biflorate inflorescences. The fruit is a unilocular, monospermous, ligneous nut with a leafy involucre. There are approximately 20 species, distributed in the forest zones of Europe, Asia, and North America. Seven species are found in the USSR. Many species are valuable for their nuts.

The European hazel (Corylus avellana), a shrub or arbuscle measuring up to 8 m in height, has the most economic significance in the European USSR. One shrub yields at least 3 kg of nuts. The European hazel is propagated by seeds, shoots from the stump, root suckers, and cuttings. It lives as long as 80 years. It is the principal type of brush in deciduous forests and in broad-leaved coniferous and high-mountain coniferous forests. C. mandshurica, C. brevituba, and the Siberian filbert (C. heterophylla) are found in the Far East. Several species, including the European hazel, the Turkish hazelnut (C. colurna), C. colchica, and C. pontica are found in the Caucasus. The filbert (C. maxima) is cultivated in the Caucasus and the Crimea.

S. K. CHEREPANOV