Corylus colurna

Corylus colurna

Turkish Filbert or Turkish Hazelnut

(Betulaceae - Birch Family)

FEATURES

Form

Culture

full sun to partial sun
prefers moist, well-drained soils in full sun, and is very urban stress tolerant, including adaptability to heat, drought, pollution, poor soils, compacted soils, dry soils, and soils of various pH
propagated primarily by seeds but also by rooted stem cuttings
Birch Family, with virtually no disease or pest problems
moderately available in ball and burlap form

Foliage

alternate, dense, shiny dark green, thick, and clean throughout the Summer
broadly ovate to broadly obovate, to 6" long and 5" wide, with a cordate base, an acute apex, and with margins doubly serrated and somewhat incised
fall color is chartreuse and ornamentally ineffective

Flowers

monoecious, with the prominently pendulous male catkins being quite obvious in Winter, and swelling from 1" to 4" in length in March and swaying in the breezes of early Spring
female flowers occur at the same time, but are very small and ornamentally inconspicuous

Fruits

0.5" diameter nuts occur in clusters and are covered with an incised husk-like involucre, maturing in early Autumn and attracting squirrels
cross-pollination between different trees is needed for good fruit set

Twigs

buds are pronounced on the stems, which are often fissured or corky by their second year of growth, with a bold texture on young branches

Trunk

the light brown, flaky outer bark is quite attractive when viewed up-close in Winter, while the inner bark is slightly orange but often unnoticed
trees maintain a strong central leader to maturity, with symmetrical branching that forms a broadly pyramidal outline
some specimens are allowed to branch to the ground, but most trees are limbed up with maturity to yield a stately shade tree character

ID Summary

large, ovate, shiny dark green leaves with serrated to incised margins cover the pyramidal, symmetrically-branched canopy from Spring through early Autumn, casting a very dense shade
pendulous male catkins are the prominent feature in late Winter and early Spring, swaying in the March winds and giving a graceful medium texture to the tree at this time
stems becomes somewhat corky as they mature to branches, while the trunk and main branches develop a flaky, light brown bark with age that is subtlely ornamental, especially when viewed up-close

USAGE

Function

Texture

Assets

very urban tolerant, especially to drought, poor soils, and alkaline pH soils
large shade tree that casts a dense shade, having dense, dark green, attractive foliage
ornamental bark, corky stems, pendulous catkins, and bold symmetrical pyramidal outline create attractive features in Winter
disease- and pest-free, with clean foliage

Liabilities

Habitat

Alternates

very urban tolerant shade trees (Acer x freemanii, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Ginkgo biloba, Gleditsia triacanthos, etc.)
large pyramidal trees that are deciduous (Alnus glutinosa, Liquidambar styraciflua, Quercus palustris, Taxodium distichum, Tilia cordata, etc.) or evergreen (Abies concolor, Picea abies, Picea pungens, Pinus strobus, etc.)
large trees with Winter character (Alnus glutinosa, Betula nigra, Betula papyrifera, Gymnocladus dioicus, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Zelkova serrata, etc.)

Variants

NOTES

Translation

Purpose

Turkish Filbert is an urban-tolerant shade tree that is underutilized in modern landscapes, being an excellent substitute for other pyramidally-shaped shade trees such as Pin Oak or Littleleaf Linden.

Summary

Corylus colurna is a large shade tree noted for its bold texture, pyramidal form, ornamental Winter bark/stems/catkins, dense shade from dark green shiny foliage, and urban tolerance.