Last Thursday’s quiz showed a small tree with long yellow catkins.
Those were the male flowers, this is the female flower of the American hazelnut.
She’s boring and small because she doesn’t need to attract attention to collect pollen. The male flowers produce so much pollen for windborne dispersal that your fingers become dusty yellow when you touch them.
Thanks to Marcy Cunkelman for tracking down the other half of the pollination equation.
(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)
I wouldn’t say boring. In fact when I first pulled up your site and caught a glimpse of the photo, I was like “What the…?” It looks like an anemone. Cool. I did recently notice the male blooms on a local tree just before your posting. Now i’ll have to look closer for the female blooms. Thanks for identifying this tree.
Your posts are always interesting — barbara