Filbert In Flower

Day 167: A few days ago, the Nisqually Land Trust posted a photo in social media of a flower which they described as one of their favourites and posed the question, "Do you know what it is?" I leapt on the chance to be first to identify it by responding, "Beaked Filbert (Corylus cornuta)!" But that set me to wondering why I had never featured the female flowers on my Contorted Filbert, aka Harry Lauder's Walking Stick in my blog. Well, folks, here you have it as a Penny Perspective! It's hard to imagine that teeny-tiny little flower giving rise to a hazelnut at maturity, but that's the way it goes...providing, of course, that the birds don't eat the sweet flower buds first. Juncos in particular are fond of them (they like blueberry buds, too), so my tree has produced very few nuts over thirty years, and those were either carried away by squirrels or holed and devoured by worms. I have never found one with a nut inside. In case you were wondering, the long, dangling catkins are the male flowers. They produce the pollen which fertilizes the female flower. Filberts are wind-pollinated, so given the gusty conditions we've had for the last few days, my chances of finding a hazelnut or two this fall might be pretty good.