Spring is in the air (1)
[This short item is the first in a series of observations on spring in Assynt 2024. The originals were posted on our Facebook page at the time.]
The male catkins on the Hazel trees, Corylus avellana the Achmelvich bridge area were looking fantastic in the winter sunshine today, 7th February 2024.
Each hanging catkin contains the male flowers which will produce pollen that is then carried on the wind. There can be over 200 individual flowers on each catkin.
The scale covering each male flower protects the flower’s stamens until they are ready to release their pollen. At that point the protective scales lift, the stamens split open, and when the conditions are right the pollen is dispersed.
Once the pollen has been released the stamens will turn brown and shortly after that the catkin will fall from the tree.
The bud-like female flowers each contain several flowers. Each flower has four crimson stigmas that protrude to receive pollen. If they are successfully pollinated each individual flower will produce a single nut.
Of course, the number of nuts produced from one bud depends on how many flowers are fertilised.
A very small number of the catkins today had stamens that had turned brown and we managed to spot only two female flowers with their bright stigmas visible. You can see one flower in the second photo.
All signs of spring, and that’s despite the few centimetres of lying snow this morning!
David Haines