Catkins

Hazel catkins on Hayes Common, 5 February 2017.

I was searching my photo folders with the key work "cat" and I came across a lot of interesting pictures, including cathedrals and catkins.  So here are some of the catkins.

This photo is what people probably think of first.  Hazel catkins in early spring.  This is the male reproductive organ, and you can tap off showers of pollen.  It is spread by the wind to the tiny red female flowers:

Hazel, female flower.  The Knoll, Hayes, 19 February 2017.

No petals, because they do not need to attract insects.  Just sticky stigmas, with some tiny yellow pollen grains already stuck on.

These catkins are one of the first signs of spring, showing new growth on the trees.  But quite a few different sorts of trees use catkins to reproduce.

Pussy Willow catkins in Jubilee Country Park, 15 March 2011.

Pussy Willow is what we called this where I grew up, because the catkins were soft and furry.  These ones have been rained on!  It seems to be more often called Goat Willow here in the south, which matches its scientific name, Salix caprea.  The female flowers are on separate trees and are also bunched up into a sort of catkin:

Female goat willow catkins, Hayes common; 2 April 2011.

These are either Pussy Willow or a close relative.   Other catkin trees include:

Catkin of a Silver Birch.  Hayes Common SSSI, 16 May 2012.

Birches - this one is Silver Birch.

Oak catkins in Spring Park, 22 April 2011.

Oaks.  These rather straggly catkins can sometimes have their own parasitic galls, caused by the sexual generation of same gall wasp that produces leaf galls later in the year.

Currant Galls, sexual generation of the gall wasp Neuroterus quercusbaccarum.  Heathfield Road, Keston.  4 May 2015.

And the last catkin tree that I have photos of, Alders.

Alder catkins, Alnus glutinosa, on the roadside on Hayes Lane, Hayes.  4 March 2013.

You can see the alder cones, but otherwise this looks a lot like a tall Hazel.  But these catkins can sometimes be quite showy.

Alder catkins, Alnus glutinosa. Cudham recreation ground, 25 February 2012.