The leaves are deciduous, rounded, 6–15 centimetres (2+1⁄2–6 in) long and 5–13 cm across, softly hairy on both surfaces, and with a coarsely double-serrate to shallowly lobed margin.

Making the tree quite durable to urban conditions and helps maintain a symmetrical crown which landscape architects love so much.

[2] The flowers bloom in early spring before the leaves, and are unisexual, with single-sex catkins; the male pale yellow and 5–10 cm long, the female very small and largely concealed in the buds, with only the bright red 1–3 mm long styles visible.

Corylus colurna is however important in commercial hazelnut orchards, as it does not sucker, making it the ideal rootstock on which to graft the nut-bearing common hazel cultivars.

Nut production is irregular and occurs every two to three years [4] Corylus colurna has fibrous roots.

Leaves are alternate, simple, broadly ovate to obovate, doubly serrate, glabrous above, and pubescent veins below.

Once the seed is large enough to handle, pick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in a cold frame or sheltered place outdoors for their first winter.

[11] Besides its use as a single-stem rootstock for C. avellana, C. colurna is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree in Europe and North America.

It is very tolerant of difficult growing conditions in urban situations, which in recent decades has increased its popularity in civic planting schemes.

[2] Other landscape uses for C. colurna are for fruit, difficult and dry sites, naturalistic areas, and street trees.