A Nut is Born

For the past few weeks, I have been reminded that our mild winter continues as the purple crocus pop up and the daffodils reach full bloom. Native plants like Indian Plum are also blooming. Then it hits me as I reach for the Cetrizine hydrochloride pills: the hazelnut tree pollen is back! It gives me fits every year as nature takes its course and the pollen is cast to the wind and sticks to me like a dusting of flour. I do love our little neck of the woods here in western Oregon but it is also the hazelnut orchard capital of the Northwest, and those of us with allergies do pay for that! But I still savor just about anything with hazelnuts, from cookies to coffee, so I grin and bear it between sneezes and try not to go nuts.

A few of last year's harvest from our Hazel tree.

Hazelnuts come from the deciduous Hazel tree which is in the genus Corylus. There are fewer than 20 species in the genus and only one is native to western Oregon, the Western or California Hazel (Corylus cornuta var. californica). Most orchards in our area are growing cultivars of Corylus cornuta. Because the nuts are so popular with birds and squirrels, as well as humans, the trees have spread outside of orchards, so you may have one growing in your backyard or might see them in our local natural areas. The naturalized Hazels tend to be large shrubs rather than trees.

Hazelnuts (or filberts as they are sometimes called) and humans go way back. There is evidence of hazelnut harvesting and processing some 9000 years ago in Scotland. I wonder if those natives had allergies?! On the bright side, the nuts are very nutritious, are easy to grow and harvest, and they keep well after harvest. According to OSU, the first planted hazelnut trees in Oregon were at Scottsburg in 1858. Currently, there are about 35,000 acres of cultivated trees in Oregon. Imagine how much pollen that is!

But more relevant to this post are the tiny female flowers on the hazel tree that emerge shortly after the pollen begins to rain down. This year they appeared about two weeks ago (2/10/2015).

In late winter, the trees begin to produce male catkins, which around here usually open up by the first week in February. Upon opening, that nasty yellow pollen is released to the air. Meanwhile, the tiny pinkish flowers emerge on the twigs near the catkins. These flowers look like miniature sea anemones and are about the size of a pencil eraser. The flowers draw moisture from the air, making them sticky and when pollen from the catkins lands on it, a nut is born, so to speak! The nut grows through summer and is ready to harvest in the early fall.

Modern hazelnut harvesting is a fascinating process unto itself, but I won't dwell on it here. You can look that up if interested. In the mean time, I'm tired of sneezing, so I'm heading out to get some hazelnut ice cream!

Male catkins ready to open. The catkin is
about 2 inches long.

Female flowers about two weeks after above photo.

Flower with opened catkin. 

Flower with bud.

Our tree has several hundred of these tiny but colorful flowers.

Links:

OSU Hazelnut Page

Oregon Hazelnut Health Benefits Site

OSU Extension Info About Hazelnut Orchards

The Annual Moss Issue

Back by popular demand, it's the annual Moss issue! Don't worry, this post is not about swimsuits in the tropics - it's about that short green stuff that grows all over western Oregon in the winter shade - a.k.a., Bryophyta.  What's a card-carrying wildflower fanatic to do in January, but to resort to posting about low life, non-vascular plants like moss?! In fact, after several field trips capturing all manner of moss, I may start a new series called "Fifty Shades of Green."

Getting back to the subject at hand, one could ask, "what good is moss?" When it gets on your roof or in your lawn, you may take a dim view of moss and that is completely understandable. But moss does actually have a few good features, such as using it for plant DNA research; and for many commercial uses by florists, nurseries, and decorative gardens. And in a pinch you can use moss as a sponge! Dried peat moss can be used as a soil additive, insulation, and for growing mushrooms. For additional moss factoids, go to last year's issue (link below).

Even though we are having a warmer than normal winter in our area, the moss is doing quite well, as you can see by these photos, all taken in the past few weeks. As we did last year, a few of the photos are posted here - if you just can't get enough moss, please visit my photo website (link below) or better yet, take a walk in one of our local nature parks, where you will find plenty of moss!

     

     

     

"The Mother of All Moss Walls"

In closing, I'll leave you with "Moss," a poem by Bruce Guernsey, as seen on the Poetry Foundation website:

How must it be
to be moss,
that slipcover of rocks?—
imagine,

greening in the dark,
longing for north,
the silence
of birds gone south. 

How does moss do it,
all day
in a dank place
and never a cough?— 

a wet dust
where light fails,
where the chisel
cut the name.

Moss by Bruce Guernsey: The Poetry Foundation

Links:

2015 Moss Gallery

2014 Moss Issue