Feb 20, 2017
Plant of the Day
Monday 20 February 2017
The twisted form of Corylus avellana 'Contorta' (corkscrew hazel) the British native hazel was first spotted in a Gloucestershire hedgerow in the early 1860s by the Victorian gardener, Canon Ellacombe. He propagated the plant to amuse his friend Edward Augustus Bowles who was fond of plant curiosities, the original plant still grows in his garden at Myddelton House, near Enfield, Middlesex. This specimen was at Cambridge Botanic Garden, U.K. Both the male catkins and the red female flowers, which will produce the hazelnuts, were visible.
Jill Raggett