Corylus.

Corylus americana Walt. Cupuliferae. Hazelnut.

North America. This species bears well-flavored nuts but they are smaller and thicker shelled than the European hazel. The nuts are extensively gathered as a food by the Indians in some places.

Corylus avellana Linn. Cobnut. Filbert. Hazelnut.

Europe and Asia Minor. This species includes not only the hazelnut but all of the European varieties of filbert. It was cultivated by the Romans, and Pliny says the name is derived from Abellina in Asia, supposed to be the valley of Damascus. Pliny adds that it had been brought into Greece from Pontus, hence it was also called nux pontica. The nut was called by Theophrastus, keraclotic nuts, from Heraclea — now Ponderachi — on the Asiatic shore of the Black Sea. These names probably refer to particular varieties as the species is common in Europe and adjoining Asia. In Peacham's Emblems, we find it stated that the name filbert is derived from Philibert, a king of France, who "caused by arte sundry kinds to be brought forth." There are a number of varieties. The best nuts come from Spain and are known as Barcelona nuts. Cobnuts and filberts are largely grown in Kent, England. In Kazan, Russia, the nuts are so plentiful that an oil used as food is expressed from them. Filberts were among the seeds mentioned in the Memorandum of Mar. 16, 1629, to be sent to the Massachusetts Company and are now to be occasionally found in gardens in Virginia and elsewhere.

Corylus colurna Linn. Cobnut.

Eastern Europe, Asia Minor and Himalayan region. This plant furnishes the imported cobnuts of Britain. The kernels form an important article of food in some parts of the hills of India. The nuts are known in England as cobnuts or Turkish nuts. This tree was carried from Pontus to Macedonia and Thrace and has been distributed throughout Italy. It was brought to Germany in the sixteenth century.

Corylus ferox Wall.

Himalayan region. This species bears a small, thick-shelled nut, in taste like the common hazel.

Corylus rostrata Ait. Beaked Hazelnut.

Northeastern America. The plant bears a well-flavored nut.

Corylus tubulosa Willd. Lambert's Nut. Lombardy-Nut.

Asia Minor and Southern Europe. This species furnishes the Lombardy, or Lambert's nut.

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.