Betulaceae

Birches, alders Hornbeam and Hazel

From Streeter et al. (2016, p. 100), the description for Betulaceae is given as:

"Deciduous trees or shrubs with alternate simple leaves. Monoecious. Flowers very small; male catkins long, pendulous; female flowers few, clustered, with 2 styles."

For the specimen(s) below, hover over image in gallery for description and select for a full screen preview.

ID: 026

Date: 01 Jun 2024

Locality: The Taxiway, Weston-super-Mare

Location (Lat/Long): 51.345, -2.934

Landscape/habitat: Next to a cycle path, with hedges either side. Near to a disused road, wasteland and industrial area.

Identification notes: Spotted this whilst waiting for my car to charge.

From Streeter et al. (2016, p.100) description of characters, with my observations:

• Leaves 'cordate at base'. As shown in the photo, the leaf does have the stem in a cleft at the base.

• Habitat includes 'hedgerows'

• Buds are 'oval' (see photo showing some new buds)

• The twigs are hairy, although this guide indicates that they are 'reddish', they don't appear to be that colour when checking in the photos. However, this colour is not quoted as a character in other sources.

• The bark was smooth

Name: Hazel, Corylus avellana

References

Streeter, D., Hart-Davies, C., Hardcastle, A., Cole, F. and Harper, L. (2016) Collins wild flower guide. Revised and updated 2nd edition. edn. London: William Collins.