American Hazelnut Flower Catkins 2018

You are looking at the flowers of American Hazelnut in my Topeka KS yard. It’s Mar 13 2018 and the hazelnuts are at the height of their bloom. They bloom before the shrubs even have leaves. The flowers are known as catkins and catkin is Dutch for kitten referring to their resemblance to kitten tails. The catkins are the male flowers of the shrub. The flowers are wind pollinated and the plants are the source of the American hazelnut. The nut meats are small (the size of peas). I like to think of the blooming of the hazelnuts as the first sign of spring in Topeka.