Hazel flowers
Hazel is wind-pollinated and not reliant on insects so most of the pollen produced is blown away and doesn’t find it’s target.The target for the pollen is the female flower.
The Hazel tree is monoecious, meaning that each tree has both male and female flowers.
Hazel catkins (male flowers) are an inflorescence of small flowers that form in the autumn and are with us all winter, they can begin to open in January if the weather is mild. Each catkin is a flower head, comprised of about 240 small flowers. Each flower is covered by a triangular downy bract, beneath the bract are four stamens and each stamen has two yellow anthers (the pollen producing male part of a flower).A single anther will produce around nine thousand grains of pollen and one catkin, nearly nine million. A Hazel tree produces a lot of pollen.
The female flowers grow in clusters from small buds above the catkins. Only the red petals of the flowers protrude from the buds and the female inflorescence typically measures 2-4 mm across, It is a very small flower. Each female flower has two red styles (The pollen receiving female part of a flower). Each bud contains a cluster of between four and fourteen female flowers.
Once pollinated the female flowers produce the fruit, hazel nuts in July.
How much hazelnuts I will collect in July depends on who is faster, the squirrels or me 😊
Hazel flowers
Hazel is wind-pollinated and not reliant on insects so most of the pollen produced is blown away and doesn’t find it’s target.The target for the pollen is the female flower.
The Hazel tree is monoecious, meaning that each tree has both male and female flowers.
Hazel catkins (male flowers) are an inflorescence of small flowers that form in the autumn and are with us all winter, they can begin to open in January if the weather is mild. Each catkin is a flower head, comprised of about 240 small flowers. Each flower is covered by a triangular downy bract, beneath the bract are four stamens and each stamen has two yellow anthers (the pollen producing male part of a flower).A single anther will produce around nine thousand grains of pollen and one catkin, nearly nine million. A Hazel tree produces a lot of pollen.
The female flowers grow in clusters from small buds above the catkins. Only the red petals of the flowers protrude from the buds and the female inflorescence typically measures 2-4 mm across, It is a very small flower. Each female flower has two red styles (The pollen receiving female part of a flower). Each bud contains a cluster of between four and fourteen female flowers.
Once pollinated the female flowers produce the fruit, hazel nuts in July.
How much hazelnuts I will collect in July depends on who is faster, the squirrels or me 😊