February may be a short month, but it’s a very transitional one. After the groundhog searches for his shadow, signs of spring start to show up… owls are nesting, American woodcock begin returning from their wintering grounds in the south, and seed catalogues find their way into your mailbox.

This has long been one of my favorite times to search the woods for something very special… long before the vernal equinox ushers in the first day of spring in the latter part of March, or even before the weather service announces March 1st as the start of “Meteorological spring,” you may be able to find one of the very first flowers of the young new year in February. But it’s challenging and you have to look closely.

It is a bright scarlet red flower that looks like a delicate feather. The reason many are not familiar with this botanical treasure is that it is extremely difficult to see. Look closely at the buds on the American hazelnut, and, with luck, you may notice the minuscule blooms that adorn this delicate shrub. The tiny red feathers perched on the tips of some of the buds are actually the female flowers. The male catkins that hang from the twigs are pale yellow, a couple inches long, and offer an easy way to recognize the plant.

Use a magnifying glass to see floral details, or turn your binoculars upside down and use one of the eye pieces as a microscope. Why are these flowers so lilliputian, and not large and showy? The reason has to do with the hazelnut’s non-relationship with insects.

It’s been said that the flower and insect are one. They evolved together. Many common flowers are large, brightly colored, and/ or fragrant, in order to attract insects. This is vital to the plant. Pollen is produced by the male parts of a flower, the “stamens,” and has to find its way to the female floral parts known as “pistols,” if the plants are to produce seeds and fruit, thus insuring there will be a next generation. Once the insect is there, it becomes pollen “dusted” and is an unwitting accomplice in delivering a precious package of pollen to the next flower, and the next, and so on (nature’s ‘male delivery?’). This also insures a degree of genetic mixing as the pollen from one flower frequently fertilizes a separate flower of the same species.

But not all plants use insect pollination. Hazelnuts, like countless other species, simply depend upon the wind to carry pollen in the air. With enough pollen produced, odds are, some will find its way to the female pistols of other hazelnuts, thus ensuring fertilization as well as (hopefully) some genetic variation.

Because hazelnuts don’t depend on insects for pollination, there is no need to devote energy to producing elaborate, colorful, and large flowers. The pale yellow catkins not only produce prodigious amounts of pollen, but also give away hazelnut’s identity to the casual hiker. The small red female flowers are easily missed.

When I find hazelnut shrubs, I try to return in late summer or early fall, for a “filbert” treat before squirrels get all the goodies. But just finding them is its own reward. There is something atavistic or innate about hunting and gathering. It recreates a salient part of our evolutionary past, and therefore qualifies as a true “recreational” activity. Hazelnut can be found where there is a plentiful amount of light. They don’t do well in a heavy shade. It is a medium sized shrub that prefers direct sunlight for maximum production of nuts. It can get to be 12 to 15 feet tall and spherical, spreading to 10 feet or more when open grown. When I was a kid, I’d find hazelnut shrubs along roadways, or near open, park-like areas. There are three species of hazelnut in the U.S., two in the eastern half of the country.

The scientific name for the local native is Corylus americana… corylus means hazel in Latin. Hazel is from old Norse for ‘nut producing shrub.’ The Celts referred to hazelnut as “col,” an old Gaelic word that appears today in place names, such as the Isle of Coll in the west of Scotland. The English name for hazelnut is derived from the Anglo-Saxon haesel knut, haesel meaning cap or hat. This refers to the cap of leaves that envelop the nut.

Hazelnuts have long been associated with wisdom. Hazel is believed, by some, to hold the secrets of the Earth. It is a bringer of insight and inspiration, and leads to knowledge and learning. To dream of a Hazelnut tree predicts wealth as well as unexpected good fortune.

“Hazel, Strong and Wise

We salute your guiding light

We salute your knowing hour.

It does give us might.”

Even the wood of hazelnut was thought to have mystical properties. Often times hazelnut shrubs grow as groupings of small trunks. These were used to fashion walking sticks or shepherd’s crooks. Thin strips of hazel were often used for weaving baskets. “Y” shaped sticks of hazel were preferred for ‘divining’ (finding) water.

Hazelnuts used to be an easily stored source of protein to supplement the diet. Today it’s more of a luxury treat, often mixed with chocolate. Speaking of chocolate, hazelnut folklore is kinda sorta connected to another bit of February folklore. In grade school, on February 14th, we sent signed cards to every other kid in class requesting, “Be My Valentine.” I never quite understood what it meant. According some sources this can be traced back two thousand years. Valentine was a Roman Christian martyred by the Emperor, Claudius II, for trying to help those in trouble with the empire. “Be My Valentine” can be translated as “be my strength.”

On Valentine Day this year, try some chocolate hazelnut hearts and/ or truffles. Then visit Luthy Botanical Garden, or Forest Park Nature Center, and look for the hazelnut shrubs… and the first flowers of 2013.