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Clinch Trails Blog
Travel Topics Blog Archives Recent Comments Sugar Hill: A Microcosm of Central Appalachian Ecology Contact Information Search   Sister sites: Powered by Branchable. |
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American Hazel pollinationThe first
native flower I see blooming in the spring is often an American
Hazel. This shrub blends into the background in the summer, but
in March the catkins stand out in the brown woods. First they
look like this...  ...then the catkins lengthen and soften until they are dangling in the breeze. These are the male flowers, chock full of pollen to be carried on the wind to a nearby plant.  If you look carefully at the hazel twig, you'll find miniscule (but brilliant) female flowers above the male catkins. Since gravity tends to drag pollen down as it wafts away on the breeze, female flowers are unlikely to be pollinated by the male flowers beneath them --- a good thing since the whole purpose of pollination is to mix up the offspring's genetics by combining two different bushes' genes.  Many of the other wind pollinated trees in our woods bloom in March as well. You can probably imagine how much more likely their pollen is to reach another flower if the plants bloom before the leaves come out on the trees. Red Maples and Slippery Elms are some of my favorite early tree flowers --- although they're tiny, if you look closely you'll be enthralled by their beauty and intricacy. (Even though I'm talking about wind pollinated trees and shrubs, the first showy early spring ephemerals are out too! Hit the woods and see for yourselves.) Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed.
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