Inheritance of contorted growth in hazelnut

Summary The contorted hazelnut, Corylus avellana L. f. contorta (Bean) Rehder, is an ornamental tree prized for its twisted trunk and branches. Crosses of normal growth habit cultivars and Contorta, as it is commonly called, produced all normal growth habit seedlings. Sib matings of these normal seedlings of Contorta produced offspring in the ratio of 3 normal: 1 contorted, while backcrosses to Contorta segregated 1 normal: 1 contorted. These segregation ratios indicate control of contorted growth by a single recessive gene for which we propose the name twisted and the symbol tw. Progenies segregating simultaneously for growth habit and leaf anthocyanin indicated that the two loci are independent.