Hazel Corylus avellana
Family – Betulaceae, Birch family
Height in maturity up to 10m
Flowering –catkins early spring
Soils - alkaline to neutral well drained
Sun - Full sun or partial shade
Young hazel tree in full leaf Tree in winter showing multiple stems
Hazel was one of the earliest trees, after birch and pine, to arrive in Britain after the last Ice Age.1. It is found throughout Britain and Ireland, growing on a range of soils as coppice, hedgerow shrub or as an understorey tree in woodland. As with its relatives in the birch family, hazel is wind pollinated. The catkins start to develop at the end of the year, ready for flowering in early spring. The female flower, though tiny is a conspicuous red – the colour of the style. Hazel nuts are ready to harvest in autumn though are often taken by squirrels in summer before ripening. The rounded leaves, similar in shape to alder leaves, are dull green and slightly downy. The stem – or many stems, shoot upright from the bole. Hazel is one of the few trees that has the ability to self-coppice and over time will grow new shoots from the base if it’s not cut or browsed by wild animals. The new shoots will eventually replace the old ones.2.
Cluster of green nuts Ripe hazelnuts
History and uses
Hazel was first formally recorded in 1551 by William Turner who wrote that 'The hasell is so well knowen that wee need not any description of it'.3. It has accumulated over 30 names, some relating to its nuts, such as crack-nut in Devon, wood nut in Yorkshire, nut-bush in Berwickshire, and for its catkins the names included fox-tails in Somerset, nut-rags in Cheshire, nut palms in Berwickshire, and the widespread lamb’s tails. In Radnorshire it was thought unlucky to bring catkins into the house as farmers think it will cause a bad lambing season.4.
Hazel nuts were a staple part of the diet in Mesolithic times. In the Middle Ages, though no longer essential in the diet, nut ‘orchards’ 5. were planted with its close relative the ‘Kentish cob’ Corylus maxima, originally from southeastern Europe, and still grown in orchards today. Nutting in autumn was a social occasion in rural areas so much so that nutting became a euphemism for courting.4. Hazel nuts, and indeed the future of hazel may be threatened in areas with populations of grey squirrel because buried green nuts are not viable.5.
Culpeper’s introduction to hazel ’… so well known to every boy that they require no description’ is another reference to the popularity of hazel nuts at the time. One of his remedies for a cough – ‘an electuary, or milk drawn from the kernals with mead or honeyed water…’6. is still given today, albeit without the mead. Medicinally, powdered hazelnuts mixed with honey and water can soothe a troublesome cough.7.
Being very nutritious, full of calcium, protein and potassium, there are many tasty recipes around today, both sweet such as hazelnut biscuits, and savoury such as nut roasts, or simply eaten raw or roasted.
Hazel products were amongst the most important exports from managed woodlands until the 20th century. Hazel was traditionally cropped by coppicing – usually on a seven-year rotation - to provide long straight stems for use in wattle and daub walls in houses, and rods, staples and pegs in thatching. It is still used for thatching today.8. It was commonly used for making woven hurdles for fencing for farms and latterly gardens. Hazel woven fences make an excellent and more sustainable alternative to soft-wood fence panels currently used universally in new and existing gardens. Hazel was also widely used for coracle making in Wales and Herefordshire.9. Hazel rods are traditionally used for water diviner’s rods.
In the garden, hazel is probably most useful as a valuable component of a mixed-species hedge. It also makes an attractive and adaptable shrub or tree, with shiny copper-brown bark, yellow pollen-laden catkins heralding spring and a supply of nuts in autumn. It may be grown as a single specimen to full height as a multi-stemmed tree or in groups and coppiced on rotation to produce wood for gardening, such as pea sticks, bean poles, pegs and woven plant supports. It can be used in a mixed species hedge, or on its own.
Species supported
Hazel’s mustard coloured catkins are among the first flowers of the year and though wind pollinated and without nectar, hazel is a valuable early source of pollen for honeybees (but not solitary or bumblebees).10. A few insects feed off the catkins, such as larvae of the nut bud moth Epinotia tenerana and the hazel catkin midge Contarinia corylina.
More than 250 species11. of herbivores have been recorded on hazel, many of which are also associated with other trees in the birch family. These include gall mites such as Phytocoptella avellanae and the gall midge Mikomya coryli. More than 40 beetles are associated with hazel including the remarkable birch leaf roller beetle Deporaus betulae11. and the hazel-leaf roller weevil Apoderus coryli. About 50 species of bugs use hazel including the leafhopper Edwardsiana avellanae, commonly found throughout the UK mid-to late summer.
The largest number of species using hazel are moths, and include the November moth Epirrita dilutata, common throughout Britain on a variety of native tree species, and the vapourer Orgyia antigua, unusual in that the female is virtually wingless.12. The nut tree tussock Colocasia coryli is found more commonly in southern England, and the buff-tip Phalera bucephala is a well camouflaged common species that breeds in gardens on hazel and a range of other shrubs throughout the country.13.
Hazel nuts provide protein and fat for dormice and wood mice in winter and are also collected and buried by jays if they have not been gathered earlier in the season by grey squirrels.
Hazel is an altogether excellent tree for the wildllife garden, and can fit into a deciduous hedge. It is modestly sized, attractive and a great resource for many species - including ourselves!
References
1. Rackham, O. (1993) Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape. J M Dent. London.p 82
2. Rackham, O. (2006). Woodlands. The New Naturalist Library, Collins. London. p72
3. Pearman, D. (2017) The Discovery of the Native Flora of Britain and Ireland. BSBI, Bristol p165
4. Vickery, R. (2019). Vickery’s Folk Flora, An A to Z of the Folklore and Uses of British and Irish Plants. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. London. p 336, 339
5. Rackham, O. (2006). Woodlands. The New Naturalist Library, Collins. London. p356
6. Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician. (1826). This edition published in 2003.Greenwich Editions. London p 71
7. Nozedar, A, (2012). The Hedgerow Handbook. Square Peg. p103
8. Gaw, M. (2020). Ornaments of our landscape, Countryman August 2020 pp 53-59
9. Miles, A. (1999). Silva, The tree in Britain. Ebury Press p 274
10. Kirk, W.D.J and Howes F.N. (2012) Plants for bees International Bee Research Association p148
11. Biological Records Centre database
12. Allan Watson Featherstone's blog
13. Waring, P, Townsend, M. Lewington, R. (2009). Field Guide to Moths of Great Britain and Ireland
Page written by Caroline Ware, compiled by Steve Head
Hazel leaves Female flower Male catkins (and female flowers)
Hazel Corylus avellana
Height in maturity up to 10m
Flowering –catkins early spring
Soils - alkaline to neutral well drained
Sun - Full sun or partial shade
Young hazel tree in full leaf Tree in winter showing multiple stems
Hazel was one of the earliest trees following birch and pine to arrive in Britain after the last Ice Age.1. It is found throughout Britain and Ireland, growing on a range of soils as coppice, hedgerow shrub or as an understorey tree in woodland. As with its relatives in the birch family, hazel is wind pollinated. The catkins start to develop at the end of the year, ready for flowering in early spring. The female flower, though tiny is a conspicuous red – the colour of the style. Hazel nuts are ready to harvest in autumn though are often taken by squirrels in summer before ripening. The rounded leaves, similar in shape to alder leaves, are dull green and slightly downy. The stem – or many stems, shoot upright from the bole. Hazel is one of the few trees that has the ability to self-coppice and over time will grow new shoots from the base if it’s not cut or browsed by wild animals. The new shoots will eventually replace the old ones.2.
Hazel leaves Female flower Male catkins
Cluster of green nuts Ripe hazelnuts
History and uses
Hazel was first formally recorded in 1551 by William Turner who wrote that 'The hasell is so well knowen that wee need not any description of it'.3. It has accumulated over 30 names, some relating to its nuts, such as crack-nut in Devon, wood nut in Yorkshire, nut-bush in Berwickshire, and for its catkins the names included fox-tails in Somerset, nut-rags in Cheshire, nut palms in Berwickshire, and the widespread lamb’s tails. In Radnorshire it was thought unlucky to bring catkins into the house as farmers think it will cause a bad lambing season.4.
Hazel nuts were a staple part of the diet in Mesolithic times. In the Middle Ages, though no longer essential in the diet, nut ‘orchards’ 5. were planted with its close relative the ‘Kentish cob’ Corylus maxima, originally from southeastern Europe, and still grown in orchards today. Nutting in autumn was a social occasion in rural areas so much so that nutting became a euphemism for courting.4. Hazel nuts, and indeed the future of hazel may be threatened in areas with populations of grey squirrel because buried green nuts are not viable.5.
Culpeper’s introduction to hazel ’… so well known to every boy that they require no description’ is another reference to the popularity of hazel nuts at the time. One of his remedies for a cough – ‘an electuary, or milk drawn from the kernals with mead or honeyed water…’6. is still given today, albeit without the mead. Medicinally, powdered hazelnuts mixed with honey and water can soothe a troublesome cough.7.
Being very nutritious, full of calcium, protein and potassium, there are many tasty recipes around today, both sweet such as hazelnut biscuits, and savoury such as nut roasts, or simply eaten raw or roasted.
Hazel products were amongst the most important exports from managed woodlands until the 20th century. Hazel was traditionally cropped by coppicing – usually on a seven-year rotation - to provide long straight stems for use in wattle and daub walls in houses, and rods, staples and pegs in thatching. It is still used for thatching today.8. It was commonly used for making woven hurdles for fencing for farms and latterly gardens. Hazel woven fences make an excellent and more sustainable alternative to soft-wood fence panels currently used universally in new and existing gardens. Hazel was also widely used for coracle making in Wales and Herefordshire.9. Hazel rods are traditionally used for water diviner’s rods.
In the garden, hazel is probably most useful as a valuable component of a mixed-species hedge. It also makes an attractive and adaptable shrub or tree, with shiny copper-brown bark, yellow pollen-laden catkins heralding spring and a supply of nuts in autumn. It may be grown as a single specimen to full height as a multi-stemmed tree or in groups and coppiced on rotation to produce wood for gardening, such as pea sticks, bean poles, pegs and woven plant supports.
Species supported
Hazel’s mustard coloured catkins are among the first flowers of the year and though wind pollinated and without nectar, hazel is a valuable early source of pollen for honeybees (but not solitary or bumblebees).10. A few insects feed off the catkins, such as larvae of the nut bud moth Epinotia tenerana and the hazel catkin midge Contarinia corylina.
More than 250 species11. of herbivores have been recorded on hazel, many of which are also associated with other trees in the birch family. These include gall mites such as Phytocoptella avellanae and the gall midge Mikomya coryli. More than 40 beetles are associated with hazel including the remarkable birch leaf roller beetle Deporaus betulae11. and the hazel-leaf roller weevil Apoderus coryli. About 50 species of bugs use hazel including the leafhopper Edwardsiana avellanae, commonly found throughout the UK mid-to late summer.
The largest number of species using hazel are moths, and include the November moth Epirrita dilutata, common throughout Britain on a variety of native tree species, and the vapourer Orgyia antigua, unusual in that the female is virtually wingless.12. The nut tree tussock Colocasia coryli is found more commonly in southern England, and the buff-tip Phalera bucephala is a well camouflaged common species that breeds in gardens on hazel and a range of other shrubs throughout the country.13.
Hazel nuts provide protein and fat for dormice and wood mice in winter and are also collected and buried by jays if they have not been gathered earlier in the season by grey squirrels.
Hazel is an altogether excellent tree for the wildllife garden, and can fit into a deciduous hedge. It is modestly sized, attractive and a great resource for many species - including ourselves!
References
1. Rackham, O. (1993) Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape. J M Dent. London.p 82
2. Rackham, O. (2006). Woodlands. The New Naturalist Library, Collins. London. p72
3. Pearman, D. (2017) The Discovery of the Native Flora of Britain and Ireland. BSBI, Bristol p165
4. Vickery, R. (2019). Vickery’s Folk Flora, An A to Z of the Folklore and Uses of British and Irish Plants. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. London. p 336, 339
5. Rackham, O. (2006). Woodlands. The New Naturalist Library, Collins. London. p356
6. Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician. (1826). This edition published in 2003.Greenwich Editions. London p 71
7. Nozedar, A, (2012). The Hedgerow Handbook. Square Peg. p103
8. Gaw, M. (2020). Ornaments of our landscape, Countryman August 2020 pp 53-59
9. Miles, A. (1999). Silva, The tree in Britain. Ebury Press p 274
10. Kirk, W.D.J and Howes F.N. (2012) Plants for bees International Bee Research Association p148
11. Biological Records Centre database
12. Allan Watson Featherstone's blog
13. Waring, P, Townsend, M. Lewington, R. (2009). Field Guide to Moths of Great Britain and Ireland
Page written by Caroline Ware, compiled by Steve Head
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