Corylus cornuta var. californica -Western hazelnut

It’s hard to beat the squirrels to these tasty nuts. You know they’ve been around seeing the opened shells on the ground but being squirrels, they also ‘squirrel’ away some in the ground for later. Trouble is they can’t remember where they planted all of them so expect seedlings to appear some distance from the mother tree. Even if you don’t get any of your own to eat, hazelnuts typically are a nice multi-trunked small tree up to 20’ and more. The smooth gray bark is a winter attraction for me.