| Author | Walter | |
| Distribution | Throughout the Mountains and Piedmont. Scattered eastward, present at localized places in the Coastal Plain -- mostly in counties along brownwater rivers -- even in the eastern portions.
This is a very widespread species to the north of NC, occurring across eastern Canada and the US south through NJ, and through the Piedmont to central GA and eastern OK. It is scattered in the Coastal Plain of the Southern states. However, it does not range south to FL.
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| Abundance | Fairly common to locally common in the Piedmont and Mountains. It is not overly widespread, but it occurs in colonies and can be quite numerous where encountered. Very rare in the Coastal Plain (except close to the Roanoke River, where infrequent), limited to very rich soil areas. | |
| Habitat | This is a species of circumneutral to slightly acidic soils, of rich hardwood forests and moist thickets. These forests may be rocky or not, but it is more numerous on slopes than on flats. However, it does occur in bottomlands west of the Fall Line. |
| Phenology | Flowers in February and March, well before the leaves emerge; fruits in August and September. | |
| Identification | This is a medium-sized colonial, deciduous shrub that grows to an average height of 8-10 feet high. It has widely ovate, toothed, and fairly large leaves, to about 4 inches long. They have a distinctive shape, being somewhat straight edged from the middle to the tapered tip. The catkins are present and blooming in late winter or very early spring, well before the leaves appear. The species has distinctive fruit, with a large nut (up to about 2/3-inch across) enclosed by several leafy, toothed bracts; several such nuts usually are found in a cluster. The main confusing species is the Beaked Hazelnut (C. cornuta), which has smaller leaves, grows mainly in drier and rockier forests, is barely waist-high and not head high or taller, and (if seen) has nuts enclosed in a long and narrow beak. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Generally none
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| Other Common Name(s) | American Filbert | |
| State Rank | S5 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACU link |
| USACE-emp | FACU link |
