The passion of the hazel tree

The Hazels are coming into flower, spring must be here. Hazel trees are monoecious, with  both male and female flowers on the same tree. However, hazel flowers can only be pollinated by pollen from another hazel tree. The clusters of yellow male catkins and the red female flowers appear from late January, before the leaves. The female flowers, of which there is 1 in the photograph, are tiny and bud-like with red styles. Once pollinated by the wind, the female flowers develop into the familiar hazel-nut with a woody shell surrounded by a cup of leafy bracts.