Early spring flowers

Not only are flowers lingering late this year – as mentioned by Chris Foster in his recent blog – but some plants seem to think it’s spring already!

Hazel flowers on 16th December 2014

Hazel flowers on 16th December 2014

 

This hazel, seen in the wilderness on the 16th December, is still carrying the leaves that it should have dropped in the autumn and yet it has next year’s catkins open already!!

About Fay Newbery

PhD student in the Plant Pathology Research Group.
This entry was posted in Betulaceae, Flowering Plants, Plants and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Early spring flowers

  1. I often see hazel in flower in January – but December is amazingly early. Clearly no chilling need before flowering.

  2. Fay Newbery says:

    Clapham, Tutin & Warburg in the 1962 Second Edition of their Flora of the British Isles give the flowering period of hazel as January to April. So, even before we were all worried about global-warming-induced phenological changes, there were years when hazel catkins opened as early as January.

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