Trees Planet: Corylus avellana

General Information

Common Name	Hazel
Scientific Name	Corylus avellana
Sun Tolerance	Full Sun
Height	3–5 m (10–18 ft)
Spread	3-4.5 m (7–15 ft)
Growth Rate	Moderate
Bloom Time	Winter
Color	Green
Flower Color	Yellow, Green
Type	Shrub
Native	Europe, western Asia

Classification

Kingdom	Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision	Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division	Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass	Hamamelididae
Order	Fagales
Family	Betulaceae – Birch family
Genus	Corylus L. – hazelnut
Species	C. avellana

Corylus avellana - Hazel

Corylus avellana commonly known as Hazel is rarely allowed to develop into a tree. Usually it thrives as a small shrub or bush, forming undergrowth or low coppice in woodlands, or as an unwanted component of a tended hedgerow. Hazel is mainly native to Europe and western Asia.

The straight downy grey-brown twigs carry small winter buds set alternately, which are brown at first and green by February. The leaves are alternate, broad and roundish, with doubly toothed margins and end in a little short tip. In autumn they change to brown and finally pale yellow.

The yellow, pliant male catkins, drooping like lambs’ tails, appear from January, having developed through winter from being little grey-green ‘cylinders’. The female flower is much less conspicuous, being a small bud-like structure from which obtrudes several fine crimson stigmas. The fruit is the well known hazel-nut, with a white ‘kernel’ enclosed in a shell that stands in a leafy cup often longer than the nut and which together change from green to dark brown by autumn.

Corylus avellana - Hazel

The bark is smooth and shining and a brownish-red to greenish-brown, with conspicuous horizontal lenticels. On stouter stems the bark becomes silver-grey with a soft brownish tint. The wood is mid-brown in color, strong and hard. Most uses of hazel have been in its round or cleft state, in old crafts that have lately almost died out – particularly that of wattle-hurdle making and for wattle in house-building. It is still the traditional species for pea-sticks, bean-rods, hoops, leathering for hedge-laying, withes (for tying) and for some crates. Once a valuable element in rural economy, Hazel today is usually removed by foresters so that more profitable forest crops can be grown. Many people regret the gradual passing of a lovely form of woodland, which incidentally often harbors primroses, wild anemones, violets, bluebells and champion. They also regret the loss of the ancient traditional crafts of the Underwood worker – as interesting as those of the charcoal-burner and the chair-bodger. Common Hazel is cultivated for its nuts.