Corylus chinensis

The Chinese hazel or Chinese filbert is in the birch or Betulaceae family and is native to western China. It can reach a height of up to 35 m.

• Leaves are deciduous, alternate, simple, broad, ovate to ovate-oblong, 15-18 cm long, base obliquely cordate, rounded, evenly serrate; young expanding leaves are reddish-maroon.
• It is similar to the Turkish hazel (C. colurna), but can be distinguished by its darker-coloured, much more persistently glandular-downy young shoots, leaf-stalks, and midrib; by the leaf margins being more finely and evenly toothed (not lobed as in C. colurna); and by the base being more unequally, if not so deeply heart-shaped.
• The species is monoecious. Male flowers form catkins that are pale yellow and 5–12 cm long, notably visible in mid-winter before the leaves of most species are out. Females are very small and largely concealed in the buds with only the bright red 1–3 mm long styles visible.
• Husks of the nuts are glabrous except for some minute down, constricted above the nut into a short recurved beak 7–14 mm long, irregularly toothed at the end,; the entire husk is bottle-shaped, 3.8 cm long and 2.5 cm across and forms in clusters of 3 or 4 nuts.