FLOWER POWER
ONE of my most favourite things to share from the plant world at this time of year is the most unassuming, little red female flower that you can find (if you look really hard) on the hazel trees now.
The hazel has both male and female flowers on each tree, with the male flowers contained within the long, confident catkins, or “lamb’s tails”, that we all know and love. Each catkin is actually made up of loads of individual small green/yellow male flowers, which produce the pollen. There are around 240 male flowers in each catkin, which are formed during the previous summer so that they are ready to open in the dead of winter and flower through the spring.
Hazel is wind-pollinated, so the pollen from the catkins is blown to the delicate female flowers – the ones that so few people know about. It always makes me smile that the confident male catkins are well recognised as they show off and shout about spring and yet the little humble female flowers go unnoticed. It’s that little red flower that produces the hazelnut in the autumn.
Hazel flowers are also an important source of early pollen for bees. Pollen is an essential source of fats and proteins, and very different from the nectar, which is a sugary food source to provide energy and allow production of honey.
I know I write about this fabulous little flower around this time every year but if only one new person discovers them, then it is worth repeating myself. And I also love the fact that people take a photo of the flower and send it to me with the caption, “Saw this and thought of you”. What a beautiful, unassuming flower to be associated with.
Do take the time to have a look for this special little flower if you can.