HAZEL: TREE FROM A NUT

There is a tiny hole in the outer skin or shell of most seeds, to let water in.  If there is a warm enough temperature, which varies from species to species, and some oxygen for the seed to breathe, the first part of the seedling will grow.

This is the radicle, a single root, which grows downwards.

Once the radicle is growing a little shoot, the plumule, grows upwards, with its head bent over to help it push through the soil until it emerges into the light.  This is a hazel nut beginning its journey into the world.

And so life begins again.  The roots proliferate from the radicle to draw up water and nutrients from the soil, and above ground the shoot develops leaves and starts to feed the plant by photosynthesis, using light and carbon dioxide to manufacture more plant material.

The seedling is now well established

Hair-like roots are growing not only from the radicle but even from the buried part of the main shoot.