The producer of cobs

Hazel Corylus avellana trees rely on two forces of nature to help them breed, wind and rodents. The pollen produced by the male flowers, which we know as catkins,  is dispersed by the wind to pollinate the minute female flowers which then produce hazlenuts, or cobs. The nuts are dispersed by rodents, such as squirrels and dormice, that busily gather them in the autumn, stashing them away for future eating, but forgetting where they have put some of them, which then germinate and become hazel seedlings.

This is the triffid-like female hazel flower, only a minuscule 3-4 mm in length, and easily overlooked among the showy male catkins.